The Weekend by The Information Staff

Every Saturday

The Weekend

By The Information Staff

Know what happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends and people shaping culture, technology and everything in between.

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Recent Editions

One AI Device to Rule Them All

One AI Device to Rule Them All

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 28, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It’s been 10 years since the movie “Her” introduced us to a queasy future in which a man falls in love with his AI-powered digital assistant. Guess who loved that movie? Yup, Sam Altman, the father of ChatGPT. “The things ‘Her’ got right—like the whole interaction models of how people use AI—that was incredibly... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It’s been 10 years since the movie “Her” introduced us to a queasy...

Hey Alexa: What’s Andy Jassy Up To?

Hey Alexa: What’s Andy Jassy Up To?

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 21, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.As Jessica writes in her cover story this week, Andy Jassy has enjoyed a relatively smooth transition period as CEO of Amazon. Sure, there have been hiccups and challenges in the two years since Jeff Bezos handed Jassy the reins. He earned some ire from employees after laying off 27,000 workers in 2022. And there was... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.As Jessica writes in her cover story this week, Andy Jassy has...

Thierry, Taylor, Rainbolt and Sam

Thierry, Taylor, Rainbolt and Sam

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 14, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.This wasn’t an easy week for anyone. But if you’re on a trust and safety team of a social media company, this was likely the worst week in memory. In just three days after Hamas committed its depraved terrorist attacks in Israel last Saturday, Meta reported removing nearly 800,000 pieces of content labeled as “... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.This wasn’t an easy week for anyone. But if you’re on a trust and...

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

‘A Unicorn Atop a Unicorn’

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 7, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Silicon Valley loves a wunderkind, as we covered extensively last spring. It also loves to pattern-match, projecting visions of future success on entrepreneurs who look a lot like winners of the past. So what happens when an obvious wunderkind doesn’t look anything like her predecessors? It took a lot of... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Silicon Valley loves a wunderkind, as we covered extensively last...

The Heir Who Wants to Be Mayor

The Heir Who Wants to Be Mayor

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 30, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.To spend time with Daniel Lurie is to understand the true meaning of the word “mensch.” Everyone who knows the San Francisco philanthropist and Levi’s heir says pretty much the same things about him: Daniel is “a really good guy”—affable, smart, egoless and earnest in his desire to improve the lives of the... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.To spend time with Daniel Lurie is to understand the true meaning of...

What a Brazilian Steakhouse Says About the Tech Economy

What a Brazilian Steakhouse Says About the Tech Economy

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 23, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.One of my favorite tech memes is the “We’re so back” post, the kind that pokes fun at the industry returning to the good old days of expensive perks and wine-soaked dinners.I had a real-life “We’re so back” moment this week when I attended a bacchanalian feast thrown by Bain Capital Ventures at Fogo de Chão in... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.One of my favorite tech memes is the “We’re so back” post, the...

Meet the Leaders of the Austin Tech Brat Pack

Meet the Leaders of the Austin Tech Brat Pack

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 16, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It’s been another week of all-things Elon Musk, courtesy of Walter Isaacson’s book drop, an appearance in Washington for AI discussions with lawmakers and his opining on the inevitability of a future Chinese invasion of Taiwan at the All-In Summit. The illustration designer Clark Miller created for Adam Lashinsky’s... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It’s been another week of all-things Elon Musk, courtesy of Walter...

'If Hell Is a Party Like This...'

'If Hell Is a Party Like This...'

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 9, 2023 7:00am PDT

'If Hell Is a Party Like This...'

'If Hell Is a Party Like This...'

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 9, 2023 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.“The playa doesn’t give you what you want. It gives you what you need.” I’ve been hearing that old Burning Man saw around these parts since the early 2000s—most recently by a participant in this weekend’s cover story, The Instant Oral History of ‘Trench Foot Burning Man.’ But never has the truism seemed more true... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.“The playa doesn’t give you what you want. It gives you what you...

The Botched Reveal of California Forever

The Botched Reveal of California Forever

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 2, 2023 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.This week, we’re publishing stories from near (a testosterone party in San Francisco) and far (Jessica's four-day reporting junket in China). But there’s another story we’re tracking that is geographically close to home and psychologically close to Never Never Land. I’m talking about the dream city of California... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.This week, we’re publishing stories from near (a testosterone party...

Tech Leaders Spend How Much(?!) on Their Bodies?

Tech Leaders Spend How Much(?!) on Their Bodies?

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 26, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It’s Annie here, stealing this week’s newsletter opener from Jon (don’t worry, he knows). I wanted to properly introduce The Information Weekend’s first ever Brain-Body Investment Survey, which we’ve been working on over the past month. In my nearly two years at The Information, I’ve taken special interest in... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It’s Annie here, stealing this week’s newsletter opener from Jon (don...

Stars Learn to Love Their AI Doppelgängers

Stars Learn to Love Their AI Doppelgängers

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 19, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.There’s been a lot of bed-wetting down in Southern California this summer about the dangers of the artificial intelligence boom. Maybe bed-wetting isn’t fair: The Hollywood actors who are striking, in part, over how their AI-generated likenesses will be scanned, stored and monetized, have valid concerns. And they... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.There’s been a lot of bed-wetting down in Southern California this...

Evangelists of Two Different Silicon Valleys

Evangelists of Two Different Silicon Valleys

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 12, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Evangelists of Two Different Silicon Valleys

Evangelists of Two Different Silicon Valleys

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 12, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Heads up, Weekenders: The Information is asking subscribers how much time and money they spend on their various fitness and wellness routines. Please fill out our completely anonymous Brain-Body Investment survey (done in five minutes, tops), and we'll share the results soon. Thanks for participating! Hi, welcome to your Weekend.... Heads up, Weekenders: The Information is asking subscribers how much time and money they spend on...

The Superconductor of the Summer

The Superconductor of the Summer

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 5, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Culturally, it’s been a very Barbie-Taylor-Tom (Cruise) summer. A season of mega-popular, mega-lucrative, four-quadrant entertainments that have returned us, however briefly, to the pre-internet days of the monoculture. So imagine my surprise when the online discourse shifted abruptly this week to the very niche... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Culturally, it’s been a very Barbie-Taylor-Tom (Cruise) summer. A...

Illustration by Clark Miller

Blind Loyalty to an Anonymous Chat App

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 29, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of thousands of techies in the Bay Area calling in favors and taking out second mortgages to score tickets to Taylor Swift’s concert at Levi’s Stadium last night and tonight in Santa Clara. If you succeeded, congratulations! Speaking of Taylor, I stumbled across a fascinating... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of thousands of techies in the Bay...

A Stripe Co-Founder’s Billionaire Flex

A Stripe Co-Founder’s Billionaire Flex

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 22, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.You’re likely not intimately familiar with the world of John Collison, and that is mostly by design. Unlike other millennial tech titans like Sam Altman, Brian Chesky and Brian Armstrong, relatively little has been written about Collison, the intensely private, Irish-born co-founder of the $50 billion payments... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.You’re likely not intimately familiar with the world of John...

Tech's Proudest Workforce No Longer

Tech's Proudest Workforce No Longer

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 15, 2023 6:00am PDT

Tech's Proudest Workforce No Longer

Tech's Proudest Workforce No Longer

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 15, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.The problems that have afflicted Google over the past 12 months are not unique to the search giant or its parent company Alphabet. The entire tech industry has been in correction mode after the hyper-growth years of 2020-2021, with more than 218,000 jobs slashed thus far in 2023, according to Layoffs.fyi.But Google’s... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.The problems that have afflicted Google over the past 12 months are...

An AI Company and Its Fanatical Following

An AI Company and Its Fanatical Following

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 8, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Since we launched our Weekend section in November 2021, we’ve been near-obsessive chroniclers of the generative AI boom. Our very first cover story, written by yours truly, was on Sam Altman and his optimistic vision for OpenAI. We followed that up with reports on how AI image generators would disrupt the... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Since we launched our Weekend section in November 2021, we’ve been...

A Mogul Smackdown We Could Get Behind

A Mogul Smackdown We Could Get Behind

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 1, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It should be pretty clear by now what a lame idea the whole Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk cage match was. The spectacle of two middle-aged men working out their self-esteem issues by beating on each other was not worthy of their companies—or our time. But a pitch from the producers of the Discovery show “BattleBots”... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.It should be pretty clear by now what a lame idea the whole Mark...

Adobe Flies Towards Generative AI

Adobe Flies Towards Generative AI

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 24, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.For about 11 months after OpenAI released its text-to-image generator Dall-E 2 in April 2022, many of us wondered when Adobe would come to market with a rival product, which could be neatly integrated into design programs like Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere. The wait felt long, especially considering how... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.For about 11 months after OpenAI released its text-to-image generator...

Inside the CEO Switch at Twitch

Inside the CEO Switch at Twitch

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 17, 2023 6:00am PDT

Inside the CEO Switch at Twitch

Inside the CEO Switch at Twitch

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 17, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.On Wednesday night, while editing Annie’s thoroughly delightful cover story on new Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, I hopped over to Clancy’s Twitch page, just to see if he was livestreaming. To my surprise and delight, he was.Almost two hours into a four-and-a-half hour jam session and open-mic night, the CEO sat facing... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.On Wednesday night, while editing Annie’s thoroughly delightful cover...