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The Unintended Consequences of Codex’s Comeback

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jun 3, 2026 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s Codex—which was once pitched as a coding agent for developers and is now being framed as a more general-purpose agent for knowledge workers—is having a moment, as OpenAI chief revenue officer Denise Dresser put it on Tuesday. As I wrote about in this story from Tuesday, lots of developers are making the switch from Anthropic’s more... OpenAI’s Codex—which was once pitched as a coding agent for developers and is now being framed as...

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The SpaceX IPO Domino Effect

By Katie Roof · Jun 2, 2026 5:16pm PDT

SpaceX’s $75 billion offering will impact a lot more than just the employees and investors who are looking to cash in on their stock. It will also be a gauge of enthusiasm for tech IPOs, helping set the stage for other mega IPOs like Anthropic and OpenAI. If SpaceX’s IPO doesn’t take off, “you’d see a pullback in institutional capital that... SpaceX’s $75 billion offering will impact a lot more than just the employees and investors who...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Cognition Aims to Be the Switzerland of AI Agents with App Makeover

By Rocket Drew · Jun 2, 2026 7:01am PDT

AI coding startup Cognition is revamping its app to help users manage coding agents from many providers, executives told The Information. Cognition is betting that being a neutral platform will strengthen its hand in the increasingly competitive market for AI coding tools.The change, to be announced on Tuesday, involves the Windsurf application... AI coding startup Cognition is revamping its app to help users manage coding agents from many...

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Google’s AI Fundraising; Anthropic’s IPO Option

By Martin Peers · Jun 1, 2026 5:01pm PDT

Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Google’s AI Fundraising; Anthropic’s IPO Option

By Martin Peers · Jun 1, 2026 5:01pm PDT

How is running an AI firm like running for Congress? In either case, you have to spend half your time raising money! Take Google’s surprising announcement on Monday afternoon that it plans to raise a total of $80 billion in equity “as part of its plan to fund investments” in AI. That’s in addition to the $85 billion it has already borrowed in... How is running an AI firm like running for Congress? In either case, you have to spend half your...

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AI Evaluators Struggle with Models That Know When They’re Being Tested

By Rocket Drew · Jun 1, 2026 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

AI researchers are starting to make progress on a confounding problem: AI models are getting better at telling when they are in an evaluation.That could become a problem for AI companies that use evaluations to gauge the capabilities and behaviors of their models before releasing them. If models act differently during testing, that could mean... AI researchers are starting to make progress on a confounding problem: AI models are getting...

Sunday Insights

Why Forward Deployed Engineers Are the Rage

By Laura Bratton and Kevin McLaughlin · May 31, 2026 8:00am PDT · 4 comments

AI researchers may have the hottest job in tech, but forward-deployed engineers who put the AI to good use are becoming indispensable too. The military-inspired job title, which Palantir began using in the context of business software more than a decade ago, has spread to all corners of the industry. Last week, for instance, Meta formed a new... AI researchers may have the hottest job in tech, but forward-deployed engineers who put the AI to...

Art by Clark Miller

Defense Tech Grows Up

By Leo Schwartz · May 30, 2026 9:01am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Can OpenAI’s revenue chief catch Anthropic in enterprise tech?• Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “Deep Cover: The Family Man,” “1873” and “Legends”On Tuesday, I dropped in at JPMorgan Chase’s glitzy new Midtown headquarters for a confab on national... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Can OpenAI’s revenue chief ...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

OpenAI’s Revenue Chief Barnstorms for Business Customers

By Sri Muppidi and Laura Bratton · May 30, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

OpenAI’s Revenue Chief Barnstorms for Business Customers

By Sri Muppidi and Laura Bratton · May 30, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Before former Slack CEO Denise Dresser joined OpenAI in December as its chief revenue officer, the company’s efforts to sell its products to business customers were sometimes clunky. Earlier in 2025, for example, the company had struck an agreement with Databricks, which would sell OpenAI products alongside the database software provider’s own... Before former Slack CEO Denise Dresser joined OpenAI in December as its chief revenue officer,...

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China’s ByteDance Developing New AI Chips Like Those from Nvidia Partner Groq

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · May 29, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

TikTok owner ByteDance is developing a new chip to run artificial intelligence models as part of an aggressive expansion of its homegrown AI infrastructure. The new AI chip is intended to have a structure similar to U.S. chip designer Groq’s language processing units, which are built to run AI models at low cost, according to three people with... TikTok owner ByteDance is developing a new chip to run artificial intelligence models as part of...

Zach Dell, CEO of Base Power. Screenshot via YouTube.

Base Power in Talks to Raise Funds at $12 Billion Valuation

By Leo Schwartz, Anissa Gardizy and Julia Hornstein · May 28, 2026 6:39pm PDT

Base Power, a three-year-old home-battery startup, is in talks to raise funds at a $12 billion valuation, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. Ribbit Capital, which backed Base Power’s last funding round, has been in talks to lead the current round, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. Founded by Venezuelan... Base Power, a three-year-old home-battery startup, is in talks to raise funds at a $12 billion...

Art by Clark Miller.

The AI Boom’s Pricey Middle

By The Information Staff · May 28, 2026 1:08pm PDT

Baseten’s talks to raise fresh funding at an $11 billion valuation are the latest sign that investors are betting the messy work of helping developers run AI models can become one of the next big businesses in AI. That boom has lifted a group of companies including Baseten, Fireworks AI, Together AI and Modal. These startups give customers... Baseten’s talks to raise fresh funding at an $11 billion valuation are the latest sign that...

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images

Microsoft to Release New Coding Model Next Week in Comeback Attempt

By Aaron Holmes · May 28, 2026 7:00am PDT

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI. Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images

Microsoft to Release New Coding Model Next Week in Comeback Attempt

By Aaron Holmes · May 28, 2026 7:00am PDT

Microsoft next week will unveil a suite of new homegrown AI models at its annual Build conference for app developers in San Francisco. The question is whether it can win over these people.The company plans to unveil a coding model to boost the competitiveness of Microsoft-owned GitHub Copilot, a coding assistant whose early lead in the AI coding... Microsoft next week will unveil a suite of new homegrown AI models at its annual Build conference...

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The Information Finance

Pre-IPO Betting Boom Hits Prediction Markets

By Yueqi Yang · May 27, 2026 8:18am PDT

Most everyday investors can’t buy shares of hot private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI before they go public. With potential mega-IPOs looming this year, prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are turning that hype into tradable bets. Users are flocking to yes-or-no bets on milestones like valuations and IPO timelines, betting... Most everyday investors can’t buy shares of hot private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI before...

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The Hot New Way to Communicate with AI? Whispering

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 27, 2026 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

If you wander into the Manhattan office of AI startup Basis on a workday, you’ll see most of its 100 or so staffers whispering quietly into gooseneck microphones at their desks. They aren’t taking phone calls or talking with other humans at all. They’re speaking softly to their AI agents and chatbots. Such whispering has become a... If you wander into the Manhattan office of AI startup Basis on a workday, you’ll see most of its...

Art by Clark Miller.

Boom Times for Inference Providers?

By Laura Mandaro and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 26, 2026 5:31pm PDT · 2 comments

Less than a year ago, our reporters kept hearing doubts about a group of startups called inference providers. Companies like Fireworks, Baseten and Together AI, which rent out Nvidia servers to app developers and help them customize open-source models, had grown quickly but seemed at risk of getting steamrolled by major cloud providers that... Less than a year ago, our reporters kept hearing doubts about a group of startups called...

Tuhin Srivastava, CEO of Baseten. Photo via Getty Images

AI Inference Provider Baseten in Talks to Raise $1 Billion at $11 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Katie Roof · May 26, 2026 3:09pm PDT

Tuhin Srivastava, CEO of Baseten. Photo via Getty Images

AI Inference Provider Baseten in Talks to Raise $1 Billion at $11 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Katie Roof · May 26, 2026 3:09pm PDT

AI startup Baseten has recently been in talks with investors to raise $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation including the money, according to a person with knowledge of the fundraise. That would more than double the company’s $5 billion valuation from its last round, which was announced just three months ago. The fundraising comes on the back... AI startup Baseten has recently been in talks with investors to raise $1 billion at an $11...

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OpenAI’s PR Challenge

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 26, 2026 7:01am PDT

The battle between OpenAI, Anthropic and Google spans revenue, models, server access and research talent. But as OpenAI and Anthropic barrel toward initial public offerings, public perception is also an important factor in the race as political backlash to the industry grows.OpenAI seems particularly vulnerable in PR after a series of awkward or... The battle between OpenAI, Anthropic and Google spans revenue, models, server access and research...