The Information

Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind. Photo by Getty

Google’s AI Efforts Marred by Turf Disputes

By Erin Woo · Feb 18, 2025 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Google scored a rare hit with an artificial intelligence–powered product last fall: NotebookLM, which helps people summarize documents, even generating podcasts from its results. The podcast feature drew a glowing review from The Wall Street Journal. After the product’s release, CEO Sundar Pichai praised the “small, dedicated team... Google scored a rare hit with an artificial intelligence–powered product last fall: ...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

From BNY to Citi, Wall Street Moves In on Crypto

By Yueqi Yang · Feb 14, 2025 6:00am PST

Some of the biggest U.S. banks are muscling into crypto services for big funds, investors and traders, taking advantage of fast-loosening regulations under President Donald Trump to launch digital asset versions of businesses they have long dominated. For now, most of the action involves the business of custody, or safekeeping crypto on behalf... Some of the biggest U.S. banks are muscling into crypto services for big funds, investors and...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at the inauguration. Photo via AP.

TikTok CEO Hints At Cuts as Talks With Trump Team Continue

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Juro Osawa · Feb 13, 2025 8:19am PST

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a staff meeting Wednesday evening that he is working closely with the Trump administration to determine the best course of action for the app’s future in the U.S. At the meeting, Chew also discussed another priority: To continue shedding layers and overlapping roles within TikTok. “We have to review our teams. We... TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in a staff meeting Wednesday evening that he is working closely with...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo via Getty

Anthropic Projects Soaring Growth to $34.5 Billion in 2027 Revenue

By Jon Victor and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 12, 2025 4:07pm PST

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo via Getty

Anthropic Projects Soaring Growth to $34.5 Billion in 2027 Revenue

By Jon Victor and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 12, 2025 4:07pm PST

After burning $5.6 billion in cash last year, Anthropic said it would reduce that amount by nearly half in 2025 and projected up to $3.7 billion in revenue for the year as it gains on OpenAI, according to two people who have viewed the company’s figures. Anthropic is also projecting that its revenue could grow to as high as $34.5 billion in... After burning $5.6 billion in cash last year, Anthropic said it would reduce that amount by...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Apple Partners With Alibaba to Develop AI Features for iPhone Users in China

By Qianer Liu and Jing Yang · Feb 11, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Apple has recently started working with Chinese internet and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to roll out artificial intelligence features in China, according to one person with direct knowledge of the decision. The move is part of Apple’s strategy to offer more compelling software features to counter declining sales in the country, where it faces... Apple has recently started working with Chinese internet and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group to...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday, Feb. 7. Photo from Bloomberg via Getty Images

OpenAI Board Will Reject Musk’s ‘Embarrassing’ Takeover Bid, CEO Says

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Feb 10, 2025 7:46pm PST · 3 comments

Shortly after Elon Musk made a surprise $97 billion bid for OpenAI’s assets on Monday, its CEO Sam Altman told staff in a message that its board of directors intends to make clear it has no interest in Musk’s “supposed ‘bid’” and that the offer wasn’t in the interest of OpenAI’s mission to develop advanced artificial intelligence for all of... Shortly after Elon Musk made a surprise $97 billion bid for OpenAI’s assets on Monday, its CEO...

Photo via Getty.

Stripe Considers Employee Share Sale at $85 Billion Valuation or More

By Sri Muppidi · Feb 10, 2025 6:32pm PST

Stripe is considering arranging a sale of shares held by employees that would value the company at $85 billion or more, according to a person who has spoken to the company. The transaction would extend a series of share buybacks, secondary sales and fundraises that have lifted the payments provider’s valuation close to its $95 billion peak,... Stripe is considering arranging a sale of shares held by employees that would value the company...

Art by Clark Miller. Photo via Getty

Meta Curbs Privacy Teams’ Sway Over Product Releases

By Kalley Huang · Feb 10, 2025 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Art by Clark Miller. Photo via Getty

Meta Curbs Privacy Teams’ Sway Over Product Releases

By Kalley Huang · Feb 10, 2025 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Meta Platforms has erected guardrails around how it develops new products over the past decade to better protect the privacy of its more than 3 billion users following high-profile breaches. Now executives are lowering those guardrails so the company can release products more quickly. Among the changes, privacy teams will have less authority to... Meta Platforms has erected guardrails around how it develops new products over the past decade to...

JP Morgan’s Greek Tragedy

By Michael Roddan · Feb 6, 2025 6:00am PST · 6 comments

JPMorgan Chase’s $917 million investment in a Greek fintech company has gone so wrong that the bank last year offered to sell back half of its stake at a valuation of $175 million. The fintech, Viva Wallet, didn’t take the offer. JPMorgan responded with a lawsuit that accused Viva’s founder of bullying and threatening its... JPMorgan Chase’s $917 million investment in a Greek fintech company has gone so wrong that...

Mercury CEO Immad Akhund. Art by Clark Miller; Akhund screenshot via YouTube.

Banking Startup Mercury In Financing Talks As Investors Warm to Fintechs

By Sri Muppidi and Natasha Mascarenhas · Feb 5, 2025 8:52pm PST

Investors are warming to fintech startups after a spike in interest rates made these once-hot companies look overvalued. Mercury, a business banking startup whose profile soared after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank nearly two years ago, is in talks to raise more capital, targeting about $250 million, according to a person with direct... Investors are warming to fintech startups after a spike in interest rates made these once-hot...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Midjourney

Why Net Retention Rates Are All the Rage for AI Investors

By Sri Muppidi · Feb 5, 2025 6:00am PST

Investors in artificial intelligence startups have been wowed by the growth of many young AI startups, which are hitting revenue milestones years earlier than a previous generation of software companies did. But they are worried many of those startups won’t be able to hang on to this phenomenal growth—and are hunting for clues on... Investors in artificial intelligence startups have been wowed by the growth of many young AI...

Art by Clark Miller

How Google Cleaned Up Its Cloud Act

By Kevin McLaughlin and Catherine Perloff · Feb 3, 2025 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Art by Clark Miller

How Google Cleaned Up Its Cloud Act

By Kevin McLaughlin and Catherine Perloff · Feb 3, 2025 6:00am PST · 5 comments

In the months after Thomas Kurian became CEO of Google Cloud in early 2019, he made a discovery: Another Google team that oversaw the company’s centrally managed information technology services had been overcharging the cloud unit for its use of software and other computing resources, according to a former Google Cloud manager who saw the... In the months after Thomas Kurian became CEO of Google Cloud in early 2019, he made a discovery:...

Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

ChatGPT Subscribers Nearly Tripled to 15.5 Million in 2024

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Jan 31, 2025 4:41pm PST · 8 comments

Paid subscribers to ChatGPT nearly tripled to 15.5 million last year from 5.8 million a year earlier, OpenAI recently told some shareholders, despite competition from chatbots made by Google, Anthropic and Meta Platforms. Based on what OpenAI charges for the chatbot subscriptions, the increase means ChatGPT was likely generating at least $4... Paid subscribers to ChatGPT nearly tripled to 15.5 million last year from 5.8 million a year...

Photo via Getty

Meta Taps Ad Agencies to Help Devise AI Ad Tools

By Catherine Perloff · Jan 31, 2025 1:25pm PST · 2 comments

As Meta Platforms sets about turning its massive investment in artificial intelligence into ways to make money, it’s asking ad agencies for help. Meta has been sending its engineers to work with ad agencies on developing AI tools designed to do everything from tweaking videos and static images in ads to evaluating the effectiveness of such... As Meta Platforms sets about turning its massive investment in artificial intelligence into ways...

Snowflake CEO, Sridhar Ramaswamy. Photo by Getty

Snowflake in Talks to Acquire Analytics Startup Redpanda

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 29, 2025 2:38pm PST · 1 comment

Database provider Snowflake this week discussed an acquisition of Redpanda, a data analysis software startup valued at around $500 million in 2023, according to a person who has been part of the talks. An acquisition of the firm could upgrade Snowflake’s artificial intelligence services, an area where the company has lagged rivals such as... Database provider Snowflake this week discussed an acquisition of Redpanda, a data analysis...

President Trump and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by AP.

How SoftBank’s Son Made It Back to the White House

By Cory Weinberg and Juro Osawa · Jan 28, 2025 6:13am PST

President Trump and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by AP.

How SoftBank’s Son Made It Back to the White House

By Cory Weinberg and Juro Osawa · Jan 28, 2025 6:13am PST

When President Donald Trump announced a $500 billion plan for data centers to power artificial intelligence last Tuesday, one of the men standing to his left was already getting ready to write the checks. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was already making plans to put a total of about $40 billion into the Stargate data center project as well as the... When President Donald Trump announced a $500 billion plan for data centers to power artificial...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Before Google’s $2.7 Billion Deal With AI Startup, a Stark Warning on Safety

By Kalley Huang and Paris Martineau · Jan 27, 2025 6:00am PST

Late last summer, leaders at Character.AI were worried: The company—which offers artificial intelligence chatbots that simulate conversations with Aristotle, Pikachu and other historic or invented characters—was seeing a sharp slowdown in user growth. In September messages to staff, which The Information viewed, Character’s... Late last summer, leaders at Character.AI were worried: The company—which offers artificial...

Art via Clark Miller

Meta Scrambles After Chinese AI Equals Its Own, Upending Silicon Valley

By Kalley Huang and Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 26, 2025 12:51pm PST · 8 comments

Artificial intelligence researchers at Meta Platforms have been in panic mode. In recent days, leaders of some of the company’s AI teams openly worried that new conversational AI made by a Chinese hedge fund meant Meta was falling behind in the AI race. Leaders including AI infrastructure director Mathew Oldham have told numerous colleagues they... Artificial intelligence researchers at Meta Platforms have been in panic mode. In recent days,...

Andy Jassy photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

Amazon’s Prime Video Shifts to Profits, Promoting Rival Streamers

By Sahil Patel · Jan 24, 2025 6:00am PST · 1 comment

In the summer of 2022, a year after becoming CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy wanted the executives running the company’s Prime Video business to tell him why it was spending billions of dollars a year on expensive shows such as “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and “Citadel.” At an annual planning meeting, Jassy... In the summer of 2022, a year after becoming CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy wanted the executives...

From Left: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jensen Huang, Satya Nadella, Masayoshi Son, Larry Ellison and Sam Altman. Photos by Getty; AP.

Behind the OpenAI-Oracle Pact, an Elon Musk Threat Loomed

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Jan 23, 2025 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

From Left: Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Jensen Huang, Satya Nadella, Masayoshi Son, Larry Ellison and Sam Altman. Photos by Getty; AP.

Behind the OpenAI-Oracle Pact, an Elon Musk Threat Loomed

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Jan 23, 2025 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

As 2024 was drawing to a close, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman faced two major problems. He wasn’t getting enough server capacity from Microsoft, his company’s biggest backer, to stay ahead of rivals developing artificial intelligence. And he was facing a legal challenge from one of his biggest foes, Elon Musk, who had forged a close bond... As 2024 was drawing to a close, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman faced two major problems. He wasn’t...