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By Stephanie Palazzolo

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Recent Editions

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Expect AI Developers to Benefit from Energy Buildouts, Face Chip Uncertainty Under Trump, Experts Say; Are LLMs Reaching a Plateau?

By Kalley Huang · Nov 7, 2024 7:00am PST · 1 comment

We don’t know how Donald Trump and his administration will handle open-source artificial intelligence, as Stephanie wrote on Wednesday. But AI developers in the U.S. should expect to benefit from easier access to more energy sources and face fresh uncertainty in the AI chip industry, policy experts said on a call with subscribers to The... We don’t know how Donald Trump and his administration will handle open-source artificial...

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The Battle Over Open-Source AI Will Be Settled in Trump’s Presidency

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 6, 2024 7:15am PST

Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election has a lot of implications for AI. Some are clear: Trump has said he will repeal President Joe Biden’s AI executive order, which requires companies training large AI models to share information about them with the federal government. In another key area, though, Trump’s stance isn’t... Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s presidential election has a lot of implications for AI. Some...

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Coding Assistants Are Great—But Flawed

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 5, 2024 7:00am PST · 3 comments

These days, venture capitalists, major artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers have zeroed in on AI-powered coding assistants as the killer product for large language models. But coding assistants aren’t perfect. It turns out that as they become ubiquitous, coding assistants are creating plenty of problems at companies that... These days, venture capitalists, major artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers...

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan

Five New AI Hacks For Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 4, 2024 7:00am PST

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan

Five New AI Hacks For Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 4, 2024 7:00am PST

Since generative AI exploded onto the scene two years ago with the release of ChatGPT, we’ve seen the rise and fall of various creative hacks developers have used to eke out better performance and lower costs from large language models. And over the past few months, I’ve seen a flurry of new tricks and hacks pop up in conversations with... Since generative AI exploded onto the scene two years ago with the release of ChatGPT, we’ve seen...

Shaun Maguire. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Why Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire is Betting on a Year-Old AI Video Startup

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 31, 2024 7:00am PDT

Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire has risen to prominence over the past year for his friendship with Elon Musk, which has helped the firm get in on highly-coveted rounds in SpaceX and X. Through X, Sequoia also stands to get a stake in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence lab. Maguire’s latest bet is on Decart, a startup that one day hopes to... Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire has risen to prominence over the past year for his friendship with...

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Seven Acquisitions That Could Happen in 2025

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 30, 2024 7:40am PDT · 2 comments

As we wrapped up our generative AI takeover list and our fifth annual most promising startups list, I got to thinking: how many of the companies will still be independent a year from now?Already, this year has seen a flurry of acquisitions and quasi-acquisitions as startups look for a safe haven in the arms of larger tech companies. And there... As we wrapped up our generative AI takeover list and our fifth annual most promising startups...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty.

Microsoft Strikes Deals With OpenAI’s Top Rivals For AI Coding Assistant

By Aaron Holmes · Oct 29, 2024 9:10am PDT

Microsoft is turning up the heat on OpenAI. Microsoft’s developer platform GitHub announced on Tuesday that its wildly popular GitHub Copilot tool—which previously relied entirely on OpenAI models—will now also incorporate AI models from Anthropic and Google. GitHub Copilot will be able to toggle between Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet,... Microsoft is turning up the heat on OpenAI. Microsoft’s developer platform GitHub announced on...

Notion CEO Ivan Zhao. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Notion CEO Sees Flaws in Computer-Using Agents

By Jon Victor · Oct 28, 2024 7:15am PDT

Notion CEO Ivan Zhao. Photo via Sequoia Capital.

Notion CEO Sees Flaws in Computer-Using Agents

By Jon Victor · Oct 28, 2024 7:15am PDT

Anthropic, OpenAI and now Google are betting that the future of artificial intelligence involves technology that can take over a person’s computer and automate all manner of work involving applications and internet browsers. (See my colleague Erin’s Saturday scoop on Google’s efforts here.)If these computer-using agents eventually work and the... Anthropic, OpenAI and now Google are betting that the future of artificial intelligence involves...

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Open-Source AI Struggles to Close Gap with Closed Rivals

By Kalley Huang · Oct 24, 2024 8:54am PDT · 1 comment

Over the past week, artificial intelligence developers have posted rave reviews on X and Reddit about the quality of Nemotron, a series of large language models Nvidia built using Meta Platforms’ open-source Llama model.The buzz about Nemotron rekindled questions about whether the race between open- and closed-source models is tightening. The... Over the past week, artificial intelligence developers have posted rave reviews on X and Reddit...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic Pulls Ahead in the AI Agent Race

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 23, 2024 7:00am PDT

In the tight race between well-funded developers of conversational AI, Anthropic has suddenly made some real gains.The startup on Tuesday announced new software that completes tasks for people, such as building a website or editing a spreadsheet. The feature, called “computer use,” means that Anthropic’s Claude model can actually view users’... In the tight race between well-funded developers of conversational AI, Anthropic has suddenly...

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How AI Dealmakers Are Sidestepping Regulators

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 22, 2024 7:15am PDT

Attention: AI startups. What’s the best way to sell your company without the prying eyes of antitrust regulators? Make yourself so small you won’t attract attention!We’re serious, kind of. We’re hearing that a lesser-known loophole to the rules determining when companies have to notify antitrust regulators about an acquisition is based on the... Attention: AI startups. What’s the best way to sell your company without the prying eyes of...

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What OpenAI’s Leadership Team Is Missing

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 21, 2024 7:00am PDT

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What OpenAI’s Leadership Team Is Missing

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 21, 2024 7:00am PDT

A rare piece of OpenAI personnel news: a leader coming back to the company rather than leaving.Senior leaders expect Greg Brockman, co-founder and president, to return to OpenAI in the next month or so, following a sabbatical that started in August. While Brockman had said he would return at the end of the year, his decision to take a break had... A rare piece of OpenAI personnel news: a leader coming back to the company rather than leaving....

Mistral's CEO, Arthur Mensch. Photo via Getty.

Why Mistral is a Takeover Candidate

By Kalley Huang · Oct 17, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Earlier today, we published our Generative AI Takeover List of 78 startups that could be acquisition targets. The list includes companies that develop their own models or robots, haven’t raised funding in at least two years, or both. These companies are most likely to face a cash crunch and be open to takeover offers.My colleagues Stephanie and... Earlier today, we published our Generative AI Takeover List of 78 startups that could be...

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Chip Boom Strains Nvidia’s Relationship with its Most Important Supplier

By Amir Efrati · Oct 16, 2024 7:00am PDT

Nvidia and OpenAI may get the headlines, but their microprocessors and artificial intelligence wouldn’t be possible without the good people of Taiwan—specifically, more than 70,000 employees and leaders of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.A few years ago, my colleague Wayne took readers into the deep relationship between TSMC and Apple,... Nvidia and OpenAI may get the headlines, but their microprocessors and artificial intelligence...

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OpenAI’s Charity Could Soon Be Worth $40 Billion

By Rocket Drew · Oct 15, 2024 7:00am PDT

Score one for OpenAI? Before we get to today’s column, we should flag Aaron’s scoop yesterday about OpenAI hiring one of Microsoft’s most prominent artificial intelligence researchers. It must be a welcome relief for OpenAI to be on the receiving end of such a move for a change.Onto today’s issue…Between headlines about OpenAI’s... Score one for OpenAI? Before we get to today’s column, we should flag Aaron’s scoop...

Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI’s Newest Possible Threat: Ex-CTO Murati; Google’s Mini-ChatGPT Moment

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · Oct 14, 2024 8:00am PDT

Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI’s Newest Possible Threat: Ex-CTO Murati; Google’s Mini-ChatGPT Moment

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · Oct 14, 2024 8:00am PDT

When it comes to recruiting and retaining artificial intelligence researchers, OpenAI has faced tougher competition this year from old and new rivals. Now it’s facing pressure from a very recent former employee: ex-chief technology officer Mira Murati.Murati, whose last day was Friday, October 4 and now is as an advisor to the company, has been... When it comes to recruiting and retaining artificial intelligence researchers, OpenAI has faced...

Geoff Hinton. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI Turns a Profit…in 2029 Maybe; Post-Murati Personnel Moves; Hinton Shades Altman

By Amir Efrati and Rocket Drew · Oct 10, 2024 7:00am PDT

Howdy! Amir and Rocket here. Before we get to today’s column, please read this phenomenal piece from Aaron about Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s market analysis methods. Hint: they involve an absurd number of meetings and calls with people outside his company. It’s a leadership masterclass.Onto today’s issue…When we told you in July that ... Howdy! Amir and Rocket here. Before we get to today’s column, please read this phenomenal...

Speakers at The Information's 2024 WTF conference. Left to right: Liz Reid, VP and Head of Search at Google; Jennifer Tejada, CEO and Chairperson at PagerDuty; and Daniela Amodei, President and co-founder of Anthropic. Photos by Erin Beach for the Information.

Confronting the Challenges of AI

By Kalley Huang · Oct 9, 2024 7:05am PDT

Welcome back! Kalley here, reporting from The Information’s Women in Tech, Media and Finance Summit in Yountville, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. Artificial intelligence was a major theme this year, unsurprisingly. Our speakers wrestled with some of the biggest questions gripping the industry: how developers will make money after... Welcome back! Kalley here, reporting from The Information’s Women in Tech, Media and Finance...

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The Startups Helping Businesses Decode AI Decisions

By Rocket Drew · Oct 8, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

First off, check out my colleagues’ story this morning about how OpenAI is growing impatient with Microsoft’s ability to provide it with enough servers to run its technology, prompting OpenAI to take greater control of its own data center, chip and power planning.Onto today’s issue…Venture capitalists have recently funded half a dozen or so... First off, check out my colleagues’ story this morning about how OpenAI is growing impatient with...

OpenAI's canvas toolbar. Art by The Information.

OpenAI’s Attempt to Catch Up With Anthropic Could Cannibalize Its Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI's canvas toolbar. Art by The Information.

OpenAI’s Attempt to Catch Up With Anthropic Could Cannibalize Its Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 7, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI closed out its big week of fundraising news with a rather understated product announcement: the release of Canvas, a new ChatGPT interface that makes it easier for users to draft documents and code.That might not sound like a big deal. But it has bigger implications for the company’s position in the AI race and its relationship with its... OpenAI closed out its big week of fundraising news with a rather understated product...