The Information

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy. Photo via Getty.

Snowflake Talks With Anthropic About AI Partnership

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 20, 2024 7:47am PST

Database provider Snowflake is talking with OpenAI rival Anthropic about letting Snowflake’s customers use Anthropic’s large language models to build artificial intelligence–powered applications, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The Anthropic agreement, if consummated, could help CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy... Database provider Snowflake is talking with OpenAI rival Anthropic about letting...

Steve McLaughlin, screenshot via YouTube.

FT Partners’ Steve McLaughlin Fights ‘Blood Brothers’ Over Fees

By Michael Roddan · Nov 20, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

In mid-2020, when cryptocurrency firm Circle needed to raise cash, CEO Jeremy Allaire sought out Steve McLaughlin, founder of investment bank FT Partners and a force in fintech dealmaking. For its services, FT wanted a percentage of any capital it raised for Circle, plus fees on any future fundraising or acquisition, even if FT wasn’t... In mid-2020, when cryptocurrency firm Circle needed to raise cash, CEO Jeremy Allaire sought out...

Nisa Leung, Managing Partner, Qiming Venture Partners. Photo by Getty.

Top Chinese VC Firm Qiming Plans Leadership Transition

By Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Nov 20, 2024 4:00am PST

Qiming Venture Partners, one of China’s leading venture firms, is planning a major leadership transition, one of the first of a generation of Chinese VC firms to take this step, according to three people with knowledge of the plan. Nisa Leung and Duane Kuang, two of Qiming’s managing partners, will gradually step back from their... Qiming Venture Partners, one of China’s leading venture firms, is planning a major...

Google Sundar Pichai, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President-Elect Donald Trump via Getty. Art by Clark Miller

Musk Joined Call Between Trump, Google CEO

By Erin Woo · Nov 19, 2024 7:07pm PST · 7 comments

Google Sundar Pichai, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President-Elect Donald Trump via Getty. Art by Clark Miller

Musk Joined Call Between Trump, Google CEO

By Erin Woo · Nov 19, 2024 7:07pm PST · 7 comments

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai called Donald Trump to congratulate the president-elect on winning the election, a guest was on the line: Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, xAI and other companies, according to two people familiar with the situation. Musk’s appearance took Pichai by surprise, one of these people said. When Google CEO Sundar Pichai called Donald Trump to congratulate the president-elect on winning...

Ex-OpenAI CTO, Mira Murati. Photo via Getty.

OpenAI’s Female Staff Complain of Gender Disparity After Murati Exit

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 18, 2024 2:32pm PST · 3 comments

OpenAI’s loss of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and safety systems chief Lilian Weng has galvanized concern among some of the remaining women at the firm that the management isn’t doing enough to promote and retain women, two people who have worked at the ChatGPT maker said. One female staffer circulated a memo to other women... OpenAI’s loss of Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and safety systems chief Lilian Weng...

Canva's new CFO, Kelly Steckelberg. Photo via Getty.

Canva Hires Ex-Zoom CFO but Hedges on IPO Timing

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 18, 2024 11:00am PST

Design software firm Canva has hired Zoom Video’s longtime finance chief, Kelly Steckelberg, as its chief financial officer, filling a 10-month vacancy in which the company prioritized picking an executive who had taken a fast-growing company public. The hiring is important for Canva’s ability to go public, although its co-founder in... Design software firm Canva has hired Zoom Video’s longtime finance chief, Kelly...

China tech founder and venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee. Photo via Getty.

China AI Star Kai-Fu Lee Hits Startup Headwinds in U.S.

By Sri Muppidi and Juro Osawa · Nov 18, 2024 6:30am PST

In China, one of the biggest names in tech is Kai-Fu Lee, a Taiwan native and a bestselling author who used to head Google’s operations in the country. When Lee founded an artificial intelligence startup called 01.AI in Beijing in March last year, Chinese investors including Alibaba Group were so eager to back him that the startup became a... In China, one of the biggest names in tech is Kai-Fu Lee, a Taiwan native and a bestselling...

Photo via Getty.

Nvidia Customers Worry About Snag With New AI Chip Servers

By Qianer Liu and Anissa Gardizy · Nov 17, 2024 6:00am PST · 11 comments

Photo via Getty.

Nvidia Customers Worry About Snag With New AI Chip Servers

By Qianer Liu and Anissa Gardizy · Nov 17, 2024 6:00am PST · 11 comments

Nvidia is grappling with new problems related to its much-anticipated Blackwell graphics processing units for artificial intelligence: how to prevent them from overheating when connected together in the customized server racks it has designed. In recent months, Nvidia has asked its suppliers to change the design of the racks several times as it... Nvidia is grappling with new problems related to its much-anticipated Blackwell graphics...

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Considers Quibi-Style Minidramas to Broaden Appeal

By Juro Osawa and Kaya Yurieff · Nov 16, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Everyone from Hollywood veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg to Snap and Meta Platforms has tried luring Americans with minuteslong TV-style shows on social media apps. All have failed. But that isn’t deterring TikTok from exploring the concept. The ByteDance-owned video app is considering ways of using such minidramas, which have proved to be a... Everyone from Hollywood veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg to Snap and Meta Platforms has tried luring...

Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli. Photo via Getty.

Recent Venture Deals Show AI Valuations May Be Cooling

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Nov 14, 2024 11:58am PST

Valuations of generative artificial intelligence startups appear to be coming down—slightly. The latest example is Synthesia, which helps companies create AI videos. It’s raising $150 million in funding at a valuation of $2.1 billion after the investment, double its valuation from 17 months ago, according to a person involved in the... Valuations of generative artificial intelligence startups appear to be coming...

Art by Clark Miller

The Enterprise Search App That Got Google and OpenAI’s Attention

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 14, 2024 6:00am PST · 1 comment

ChatGPT changed how people search for information online, sparking a battle among tech giants. Now Glean, a five-year-old startup led by a former Google search engineer, is attracting big rivals in a related market: search chatbots for businesses. These products, which are powered by the same technology that’s behind ChatGPT, help... ChatGPT changed how people search for information online, sparking a battle among tech giants....

Art by Clark Miller

Following OpenAI, Google Changes Tack to Overcome AI Slowdown

By Jon Victor · Nov 13, 2024 9:31am PST · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Following OpenAI, Google Changes Tack to Overcome AI Slowdown

By Jon Victor · Nov 13, 2024 9:31am PST · 2 comments

Google has recently struggled to achieve performance gains in its Gemini conversational artificial intelligence at the same rate it did last year, prompting researchers to focus on other ways to eke out gains, according to an employee who has been involved in the effort. The situation appears similar to the slowdown in AI advances that rival... Google has recently struggled to achieve performance gains in its Gemini conversational...

Photo by Getty

Meta to Launch Ads on Threads in Early 2025

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kalley Huang · Nov 13, 2024 9:22am PST

Meta Platforms plans to introduce advertisements to its text app, Threads, early next year, hoping to cash in on the app’s rapid growth, according to three people with direct knowledge of the company’s plans. A team inside Instagram’s advertising division is leading the effort, which is still in the early stages, the people... Meta Platforms plans to introduce advertisements to its text app, Threads, early next year,...

An xAI facility in Memphis. Photos via Google Earth and Getty

How Elon Musk’s Supercomputer Freaked Out AI Rivals

By Anissa Gardizy · Nov 13, 2024 6:00am PST · 6 comments

On a sunny day last month, a propeller plane made multiple passes in the air over a large industrial building surrounded by grassy fields near downtown Memphis, Tenn., as its passengers snapped photographs and videos of the facility. It was a secret reconnaissance mission. Elon Musk had recently converted the building from a former manufacturing... On a sunny day last month, a propeller plane made multiple passes in the air over a large...

Adrian Aoun, founder and chief executive officer of GoForward Inc., Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Forward, Startup Behind ‘Doctor in Box’ Healthcare Modules, to Shut Down

By Sri Muppidi · Nov 12, 2024 5:58pm PST · 11 comments

Forward, a startup that raised $400 million to operate artificial intelligence-powered “doctor in a box” healthcare stations, is shutting down effective Tuesday, according to a person close to the company. All of its nearly 200 employees will lose their jobs, the person said. The San Francisco startup, started in 2017 by former... Forward, a startup that raised $400 million to operate artificial intelligence-powered...

Databricks CEO, Ali Ghodsi. Photo via Getty.

Databricks Considers Raising Cash to Resolve Employee Stock Squeeze

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 12, 2024 9:45am PST · 3 comments

Databricks CEO, Ali Ghodsi. Photo via Getty.

Databricks Considers Raising Cash to Resolve Employee Stock Squeeze

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 12, 2024 9:45am PST · 3 comments

Enterprise software firm Databricks, one of the world’s most valuable private tech companies, is considering raising several billion dollars in the coming months to allow employees to cash out stock grants that begin to expire in early 2026. Such a move would signal that the firm, whose business of data management software has gotten a... Enterprise software firm Databricks, one of the world’s most valuable private tech...

Spyglass vessels by Saronic Technologies. Photo via Saronic Technologies.

Trump’s Win Stokes Defense Tech Bulls, Despite Talk of a Bubble

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 12, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Count defense tech bulls among the investor groups buoyed by last week’s election of Donald Trump as president. Some investors and executives are hopeful enough in what the Trump administration will do that they’re downplaying talk of a financial bubble forming among defense and aerospace startups. One bellwether may be Saronic... Count defense tech bulls among the investor groups buoyed by last week’s election of Donald...

Art by Clark Miller

How TikTok Courted Conservatives Before Trump’s Win

By Juro Osawa, Erin Woo and Sri Muppidi · Nov 11, 2024 11:49am PST · 1 comment

More than a year before Donald Trump’s landslide victory in last week’s presidential election, TikTok’s top leaders insisted on a major shift in the app’s content moderation principles to make the platform more appealing for Trump and his supporters. In a series of internal meetings, U.S. public policy chief Michael... More than a year before Donald Trump’s landslide victory in last week’s presidential...

Blackstone’s Spanx and Supergoop Bets Are Stuck in Low Gear

By Ann Gehan and Cory Weinberg · Nov 11, 2024 6:00am PST

How tough is it out there for investors that made big consumer bets in recent years? Just take a look at private equity giant Blackstone. Blackstone’s $4.5 billion debut growth equity fund is sitting on steep paper losses in oat milk brand Oatly, whose shares dropped soon after its 2021 initial public offering. The fund’s bet on... How tough is it out there for investors that made big consumer bets in recent years? Just take a...

Art by Clark Miller

OpenAI Shifts Strategy as Rate of ‘GPT’ AI Improvements Slows

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Nov 9, 2024 1:47pm PST · 9 comments

Art by Clark Miller

OpenAI Shifts Strategy as Rate of ‘GPT’ AI Improvements Slows

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Nov 9, 2024 1:47pm PST · 9 comments

The number of people using ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence products is soaring. The rate of improvement for the basic building blocks underpinning them appears to be slowing down, though. The situation has prompted OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, to cook up new techniques for boosting those building blocks, known as large language models,... The number of people using ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence products is soaring. The...