The Big Read

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Clark Miller
The Big Read

Bots or Bust: ServiceNow’s Bill McDermott Makes an All-In Bet on AI

By Akash Pasricha · May 16, 2025 9:02am PDT · 2 comments
Late on a Friday night in March, Bill McDermott, ServiceNow’s CEO and chairman, walked off a flight in San Jose, Calif., and then immediately asked his chief of staff to get his top sales and engineering execs on the phone. He had a task for them. McDermott had just spent a week in New York meeting with customers, including the heads of banks... Late on a Friday night in March, Bill McDermott, ServiceNow’s CEO and chairman, walked off a...
Art by Clark Miller.
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Meta Renews Work on Facial Recognition Tech as Privacy Worries Fade

By Kalley Huang and Catherine Perloff · May 7, 2025 6:01am PDT
Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to design the company’s first generation of smart glasses. One feature they considered adding to them was facial recognition, which would have allowed someone wearing the glasses to, say, identify a person they bumped into at a party. Ultimately, though,... Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to...
Art by Clark Miller.
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The NFL Loves Netflix. But Does Netflix Want to Love the NFL?

By Sahil Patel · Apr 25, 2025 9:03am PDT
A couple weeks ago, a steady stream of media and sports heavyweights could be found at the white-marbled Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., where the NFL was hosting its annual owners’ meetings. The conclave is a big deal for the league—an occasion for it to hash out its multibillion dollar business deals and discuss what the future may... A couple weeks ago, a steady stream of media and sports heavyweights could be found at the...
Art: Clark Miller
After a Dramatic Implosion, Can Unity Software Resurrect Itself?
By Simon Parkin · Apr 18, 2025 8:20am PDT · 5 comments
Art: Clark Miller
The Big Read

After a Dramatic Implosion, Can Unity Software Resurrect Itself?

By Simon Parkin · Apr 18, 2025 8:20am PDT · 5 comments
In mid-September 2023, Rami Ismail was at his home in the Netherlands when his phone began to buzz, buzz and buzz again. Ismail, a videogame developer who’d become well known for a hit iPhone game, Ridiculous Fishing, often received unsolicited messages from other indie designers, but even so, this was an unusually intense flurry of activity. ... In mid-September 2023, Rami Ismail was at his home in the Netherlands when his phone began to...
Art by Clark Miller
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Patrick Collison Dreams of an Abundance-Verse

By Julia Black · Apr 11, 2025 7:05am PDT
Nearly every summer in recent years, Patrick Collison, Stripe’s 36-year-old Irish billionaire co-founder, has hosted a multiday summit on the West Coast with a bold underlying intention: unlock a more abundant future. The very first such conclave happened in 2018 when Collison and several other co-founders, including his brother John and GitHub... Nearly every summer in recent years, Patrick Collison, Stripe’s 36-year-old Irish billionaire...
Art by Clark Miller
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How Deel’s Combative Father-Son Duo Sparked a Spy Scandal

By Michael Roddan and Cory Weinberg · Apr 4, 2025 4:52pm PDT · 5 comments
Philippe Bouaziz has always expected his only son to fight—and to fight alongside him. He made his hope plainly apparent on the day he chose his son’s name: Alexandre, a deliberate homage to Alexander the Great, the ancient Macedonian conqueror, Philippe has told people with evident pride. The name tied Alex closely together with his... Philippe Bouaziz has always expected his only son to fight—and to fight alongside him. He...
Art by Clark Miller
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Move Over, OpenAI: How the Startup Behind Cursor Became the Hottest, Vibiest Thing in AI

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Mar 28, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
Every so often, a flashy startup hurtles to the white-hot center of the Silicon Valley zeitgeist, presenting an extraordinary encapsulation of a moment in time. For the past few years, it has been OpenAI. Now, arguably, it’s Anysphere, an AI startup run by four founders, all under age 30, that remained little known until quite recently. In quick... Every so often, a flashy startup hurtles to the white-hot center of the Silicon Valley zeitgeist,...
Art by Clark Miller (photos: Getty Images)
Inside the Nasty Feud Between Deel and Rippling That Became a Spy Drama
By Michael Roddan · Mar 20, 2025 9:44am PDT · 1 comment
Art by Clark Miller (photos: Getty Images)
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Inside the Nasty Feud Between Deel and Rippling That Became a Spy Drama

By Michael Roddan · Mar 20, 2025 9:44am PDT · 1 comment
Until this week, I didn’t know Keith O’Brien existed. The payroll compliance manager—and now accused corporate spy—was suddenly very interested in me. O’Brien’s curiosity was piqued last month when I was writing a story about a bitter feud between his company, Rippling, and its archrival, Deel. O’Brien allegedly searched for my name... Until this week, I didn’t know Keith O’Brien existed. The payroll compliance manager—and...
Art by Clark Miller; Herrington image via Getty.
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Amazon Retail Chief Shifts Culture Toward Lower Costs And—Gasp!—Some Slower Shipping

By Theo Wayt · Mar 14, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
In the summer of 2022, Amazon was reeling. The company’s revenue growth had fallen to its lowest levels in decades, and it was grappling with a hangover from a costly, pandemic-era expansion of its warehouses and workforce. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy began breathing down the necks of lieutenants like Doug Herrington to focus on profits, a change from... In the summer of 2022, Amazon was reeling. The company’s revenue growth had fallen to its lowest...
Art by Clark Miller
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Inside the Start of Project Stargate—and the Startup Powering It

By Abram Brown · Mar 7, 2025 9:51am PST · 4 comments
On the barren outskirts of Abilene, Texas, traffic had snarled to a crawl: It was shift-change time at Project Stargate, and as several hundred workers drove off the 800-acre site that contains the debut Stargate data center, plumes of dust from the red clay dirt followed the caravan of pickup trucks out of sight. Even without the oxidized haze,... On the barren outskirts of Abilene, Texas, traffic had snarled to a crawl: It was shift-change...
Art by Clark Miller
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How Runway Hopes to Outrun OpenAI, Google in the AI Video Race

By Gary Rivlin · Feb 28, 2025 6:00am PST · 2 comments
There are two basic ways for startup founders to respond when much larger competitors encroach on their realm. They can soldier on with heads down and voices low, in silent determination. Or they can do as the founders of Runway did when the likes of Google and OpenAI entered the AI video field Runway helped pioneer: They can respond with... There are two basic ways for startup founders to respond when much larger competitors encroach on...
Art by Clark Miller. Tim Cook photo via Getty
Apple Versus Qualcomm: A Split Looms for Tech’s Rockiest Marriage
By Wayne Ma · Feb 21, 2025 6:00am PST · 3 comments
Art by Clark Miller. Tim Cook photo via Getty
The Big Read

Apple Versus Qualcomm: A Split Looms for Tech’s Rockiest Marriage

By Wayne Ma · Feb 21, 2025 6:00am PST · 3 comments
There are companies that dislike each other. And then there’s Apple and Qualcomm. The world’s most powerful consumer electronics and wireless chip companies have long maintained one of the unhappiest marriages in tech. Over the past 15 years, the vast majority of iPhones have contained a Qualcomm modem chip that allowed those devices to connect... There are companies that dislike each other. And then there’s Apple and Qualcomm. The world’s...
Art by Clark Miller
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Can Tech Get Nuclear Power to Move at AI Speeds?

By Nick Wingfield · Feb 14, 2025 9:00am PST · 2 comments
Over the past two years, the explosive growth of artificial intelligence has created a dilemma for tech behemoths: How can their data centers meet AI’s mind-boggling need for electricity without befouling the planet in the process? Amazon, for one, may have found an answer to that question 200 miles southeast of its headquarters, on a patch of... Over the past two years, the explosive growth of artificial intelligence has created a dilemma...
Photos of Elon Musk (from left), Jim O’Neill and Peter Thiel via YouTube screenshots. Art by Clark Miller
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As DOGE Shakeup Looms, a Thiel Protégé Looks to Disrupt U.S. Health Department

By Julia Black · Feb 7, 2025 9:00am PST · 3 comments
In November, virologist Beata Halassy announced to the world that she had cured her own breast cancer using a treatment developed in a laboratory she runs. Many in the medical community celebrated her breakthrough, which she says has allowed her to live cancer-free for over four years. But some bioethicists worried that overpublicizing the... In November, virologist Beata Halassy announced to the world that she had cured her own breast...
Art by Clark Miller
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With Google and Microsoft Moving In, a Battle Over Hallowed Ground Erupts

By Theo Wayt · Jan 31, 2025 9:14am PST
In 1862, from a hill in northern Virginia, troops under Confederate General Stonewall Jackson rained artillery fire upon a column of Union soldiers on a dirt road about a thousand feet away, in the opening shots of the Second Battle of Manassas. When I visited a farmhouse on the site on a frigid day earlier this month, I saw the signs of a... In 1862, from a hill in northern Virginia, troops under Confederate General Stonewall Jackson...
Art by Clark Miller. Ellsworths image via Getty.
How Poppi Hopes to Win the Battle of the Bubbles
By Ann Gehan · Jan 24, 2025 9:01am PST
Art by Clark Miller. Ellsworths image via Getty.
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How Poppi Hopes to Win the Battle of the Bubbles

By Ann Gehan · Jan 24, 2025 9:01am PST
On the ground floor of a nondescript condo building in east Austin last month, the wife-and-husband co-founders of Poppi made good on a promise they made to me: that they would offer me a taste test of their beverage company’s in-the-works flavors. It wasn’t quite like getting access to the secret Coca-Cola recipe, but it was as... On the ground floor of a nondescript condo building in east Austin last month, the...
Art by Clark Miller
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Sports League Startups Face Long-Shot Odds. Could Selfies, Simulators and Makeup Salons Help?

By Sara Germano · Jan 17, 2025 9:06am PST · 1 comment
When Unrivaled, a new professional women’s basketball league, tips off tonight on TNT, fans will be introduced to a version of the sport that Alex Bazzell, one of the league’s founders, described to me as “a Broadway show on steroids.” That spectacle will feature three-player teams rather than traditional five-on-five... When Unrivaled, a new professional women’s basketball league, tips off tonight on TNT, fans...
Art by Clark Miller.
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How a Casual Sex Website Left the Door Open to Teens

By Paris Martineau and Cory Weinberg · Jan 10, 2025 9:14am PST · 3 comments
Kelly Weld didn’t know what to expect when she finally managed to unlock her son’s iPhone in February 2023. Still, she had hoped to find an answer as to why the then-16-year-old had recently started failing classes, skipping school and acting out at their home in central Florida. She found a disturbing explanation in his web-browsing... Kelly Weld didn’t know what to expect when she finally managed to unlock her son’s...
Art by Clark Miller
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It’s AI! It’s Crypto—It’s Crypto Meets AI!

By Burt Helm · Dec 21, 2024 6:00am PST · 7 comments
Before Marc Andreessen slid into Andy Ayrey’s life, Ayrey’s artificial intelligence experiments were a quirky passion project. Ayrey, an artist and web designer who lives in rural New Zealand, likes to tinker with large language models and see what he can build with them. His favorite creation is a mischievous troll of an AI bot,... Before Marc Andreessen slid into Andy Ayrey’s life, Ayrey’s artificial intelligence...
Art by Clark Miller
The Antichrist and the New Apostles
By Julia Black · Dec 13, 2024 9:03am PST · 19 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

The Antichrist and the New Apostles

By Julia Black · Dec 13, 2024 9:03am PST · 19 comments
Worship at Epic Church in downtown San Francisco last Sunday began in a darkened room, on the second floor of a former factory building. The shades were drawn across the tall windows, while colored lights cast a theatrical glow on a band that sounded a bit like Arcade Fire—if Arcade Fire made worship music. A mostly millennial congregation... Worship at Epic Church in downtown San Francisco last Sunday began in a darkened room, on the...