Recent stories about Microsoft

An OpenAI exhibit at Tel Aviv University on June 5. Photo by Getty.

ai media/telecom

OpenAI Hires Former Microsoft Lawyer to Oversee Publisher Negotiations

By Alex Perry and Nick Wingfield · July 26, 2023 11:59 AM PDT

OpenAI has hired a onetime Microsoft intellectual property lawyer, Tom Rubin, to oversee products, policy and partnerships, the company confirmed. His hiring means OpenAI has an intellectual property specialist in charge of negotiating deals with news publishers to license use of their material in training large-language models that run ChatGPT.... OpenAI has hired a onetime Microsoft intellectual property lawyer, Tom Rubin, to oversee...

Photos by Shutterstock.

microsoft markets

Alphabet Stands Out in a Trio of Unimpressive Earnings

By Martin Peers · July 25, 2023 5:00 PM PDT

Meh. June-quarter earnings out Tuesday from Alphabet, Microsoft, Snap and Spotify shouldn’t excite anyone about the state of business in tech. The digital ad market is showing what can only be called an uneven recovery, while enterprise software appears to be still struggling. Alphabet seems to have had the best quarter of the companies... Meh. June-quarter earnings out Tuesday from Alphabet, Microsoft, Snap and Spotify shouldn’t...

Photo generated by Midjourney.

Small Devices Could Soon Handle Large Language Models

By Stephanie Palazzolo · July 25, 2023 7:05 AM PDT · 1 comment

AI models that once took millions of dollars per month to run could soon fit into the three-by-five-inch phone in your pocket.That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but recent technological advancements have brought edge AI—a method to run AI models on devices—back into the limelight. Engineers from Carnegie Mellon University, University of... AI models that once took millions of dollars per month to run could soon fit into the...

Art by Clark Miller

The Cult of Notion: A Productivity App Becomes a Sensation for Creators

By Kalley Huang · July 22, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 10 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Scene and Heard

The Cult of Notion: A Productivity App Becomes a Sensation for Creators

By Kalley Huang · July 22, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 10 comments

In May, hundreds of people queued outside an auditorium in the San Isidro district of Lima, Perú. They had to wait another two hours before the event began, with the line nearly wrapping around the block and storm clouds looming in the late evening sky. As they killed time, the crowd buzzed in anticipation: “Notion! Notion!... In May, hundreds of people queued outside an auditorium in the San Isidro district of Lima,...

Pro Weekly: The Information Readers Turn Bullish on Tech

Pro Weekly: The Information Readers Turn Bullish on Tech

By Kalley Huang · July 21, 2023 8:00 AM PDT

Welcome back!On Thursday, we published results from our monthly subscriber survey, revealing a sunnier outlook for the technology industry among readers of The Information.Nearly half of respondents—47%—said conditions for technology companies would improve over the next six months, while about a fifth—19%—said they would worsen. In June,... Welcome back!On Thursday, we published results from our monthly subscriber survey, revealing a...

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e-commerce media/telecom

Netflix’s Q2 Results Don’t Support Stock Rally

By Martin Peers · July 19, 2023 5:00 PM PDT

The bulls are back in Netflix stock, even if the growth isn’t. Netflix on Wednesday reported just 2.7% higher revenue in the second quarter, below what it had projected, confirming that it’s now firmly in the class of slow-growing TV companies. Even excluding the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, revenue grew just 6%—nothing to write home... The bulls are back in Netflix stock, even if the growth isn’t. Netflix on Wednesday reported just...

Photo by AP.

Meta Scales Back Ambitions for AR Glasses

By Wayne Ma · July 19, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 1 comment

In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as Facebook struck a deal to buy all the augmented reality displays made by British firm Plessey. At the time, the deal appeared to be a savvy way of squeezing out Apple in the competition to develop AR glasses, as Plessey was one of the few makers of AR... In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo by Getty.

The Venture Capitalist Who Holds All the GPUs

By Jessica E. Lessin · July 18, 2023 5:00 PM PDT

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo by Getty.

ai media/telecom

The Venture Capitalist Who Holds All the GPUs

By Jessica E. Lessin · July 18, 2023 5:00 PM PDT

If there is anything venture capitalists love more than making money, it’s opining on the best and worst ways to make money. And so the debate over how to make money (or not) investing in artificial intelligence is raging throughout Silicon Valley. There are the believers who are banking on AI to mint the next supercycle of venture profits.... If there is anything venture capitalists love more than making money, it’s opining on the best...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Art by Clark Miller

Nvidia Accelerates AI Startup Investments, Nears Deal With Cloud Provider Lambda Labs

By Maria Heeter, Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · July 18, 2023 5:00 AM PDT

Nvidia is known for its stranglehold over the market for the data center chips that power ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence software. But in a matter of a few months, Nvidia has also become one of the biggest venture capital investors in an important class of customers who need its chips: cloud and AI software startups. In the latest... Nvidia is known for its stranglehold over the market for the data center chips that power ChatGPT...

Pat Bajari, Amazon's former chief economist. Photo by Getty.

Architect of Amazon’s Economist Army Exits

By Theo Wayt · July 17, 2023 6:01 AM PDT · 3 comments

Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who inform executives’ decisions in e-commerce, cloud computing and other businesses—an approach other tech giants have copied. The architect of that buildout, Chief Economist Pat Bajari, quietly left in March, he confirmed to The... Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

With Nvidia’s Help, Revenue Surges at Smaller Cloud Providers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · July 14, 2023 2:22 PM PDT · 8 comments

The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart cloud-server providers, thanks to the complicated politics of the tech industry. Consider the case of one young cloud provider, CoreWeave. The company has received a generous allotment of the latest AI server chips from Nvidia, the dominant force behind... The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart...

Photo by Unsplash.

Pro Weekly: Google's Influence on Generative AI

By Kalley Huang · July 14, 2023 8:00 AM PDT

Photo by Unsplash.

Pro Weekly: Google's Influence on Generative AI

By Kalley Huang · July 14, 2023 8:00 AM PDT

Welcome back!Since we last wrote about The Information’s Generative AI Database, we added eight companies. We now track 55 companies building generative artificial intelligence technology or services. At least 10 of these companies have at least one founder who previously worked at Alphabet, including at its AI labs, Google Brain and... Welcome back!Since we last wrote about The Information’s Generative AI Database, we added eight...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.

startups venture capital

Who Could Lead OpenAI’s VC Fund?

By Kate Clark · July 13, 2023 4:29 PM PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment fund.The San Francisco developer of ChatGPT is gearing up to soon start raising its second fund, which will be far larger than its $175 million debut, representatives of OpenAI have told several venture capital investors. They want an established... OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment...

Beehiiv co-founders Tyler Denk, Benjamin Hargett and Jake Hurd, from left to right. Photo courtesy of Beehiiv.

Creator Economy

The Newsletter Upstart Taking on Substack

By Kaya Yurieff · July 12, 2023 2:35 PM PDT

Two summers ago, when a group of employees who previously worked at newsletter and media startup Morning Brew was fundraising for their newsletter startup Beehiiv, they had to contend with Meta Platforms’ newly launched Bulletin newsletter service, Twitter’s Revue, as well as startup Substack, which had recently been valued at $650 million. A... Two summers ago, when a group of employees who previously worked at newsletter and media startup...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

microsoft startups

Sam Altman’s Tangle of Investments

By Natasha Mascarenhas · July 12, 2023 11:11 AM PDT · 4 comments

Among the many unusual facts about OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the hugely popular chatbot ChatGPT, the most extraordinary may be that Sam Altman, its CEO and co-founder, doesn’t have any equity in it. He gave up the opportunity for a huge potential payday, he says, simply because he doesn’t need the money. But Altman, 38, has a... Among the many unusual facts about OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the hugely popular chatbot...

Wiz CEO, Assaf Rappaport. Photo by Getty.

Cloud Security Startup Orca Sues Biggest Competitor, Wiz, for Patent Infringement

By Aaron Holmes and Kate Clark · July 12, 2023 9:53 AM PDT · 1 comment

Wiz CEO, Assaf Rappaport. Photo by Getty.

startups enterprise

Cloud Security Startup Orca Sues Biggest Competitor, Wiz, for Patent Infringement

By Aaron Holmes and Kate Clark · July 12, 2023 9:53 AM PDT · 1 comment

Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned into a legal battle. Orca Security, which became known for spotting glaring security flaws in Microsoft software, on Wednesday sued its biggest competitor, Wiz, alleging it illegally copied patented software that monitors data stored on cloud... Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned...

Lina Khan, chair of the Federal Trade Commission on March 27. Photo by Getty.

microsoft media/telecom

FTC’s Khan Should Pick Her Targets More Carefully

By Martin Peers · July 11, 2023 5:00 PM PDT · 1 comment

Lina Khan needs to work on her aim. A judge’s ruling today against the Federal Trade Commission’s request to block Microsoft’s purchase of Activision was so definitive that it has to hurt the regulator’s credibility, at least when it comes to tech cases. Coming immediately after a similar defeat involving Meta Platforms, the ruling suggests that... Lina Khan needs to work on her aim. A judge’s ruling today against the Federal Trade Commission’s...

Microsoft's Gurdeep Pall at an event in Tokyo in 2017. Photo by Getty Images

Longtime Microsoft Executive Gurdeep Pall to Depart

By Kevin McLaughlin · July 3, 2023 5:00 PM PDT · 3 comments

Gurdeep Pall, a 33-year Microsoft corporate vice president who helped build and promote key products like Windows, Skype and Bing, recently informed colleagues that he plans to retire from the company in September, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Since joining Microsoft in 1990, Pall has served as a high-profile executive under... Gurdeep Pall, a 33-year Microsoft corporate vice president who helped build and promote key...

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, arriving at federal court in San Francisco on June 28. Photo by Getty.

microsoft cloud

Microsoft’s Cloud Server Business in 2022 Was Less Than Half of AWS, New Document Reveals

By Aaron Holmes · June 29, 2023 1:36 PM PDT · 7 comments

For years Microsoft has kept a lid on details about the true size of its Azure cloud server rental business, making it impossible for investors to know how Microsoft’s cloud operations unit stacked up against industry leader Amazon Web Services. But this week, thanks to antitrust regulators, the world got a peek under the lid. Azure... For years Microsoft has kept a lid on details about the true size of its Azure cloud server...

President Joe Biden holds a microchip. Photo by Getty.

The Risks of Cutting Off China

By Martin Peers · June 28, 2023 5:00 PM PDT · 3 comments

President Joe Biden holds a microchip. Photo by Getty.

The Risks of Cutting Off China

By Martin Peers · June 28, 2023 5:00 PM PDT · 3 comments

The Great Wall dividing the U.S. from China is about to get higher. A Wall Street Journal report that the Biden administration is considering further tightening exports of artificial intelligence chips to China triggered a sell-off in chip stocks on Wednesday. Shares of Nvidia, the dominant provider of chips for generative AI, fell 1.8%. To be... The Great Wall dividing the U.S. from China is about to get higher. A Wall Street Journal report...

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