The Information

Cognition CEO Scott Wu

Cognition Offers Buyouts to Newly Acquired Windsurf Staff

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kalley Huang · Aug 4, 2025 11:51am PDT · 2 comments

Cognition, a two-year-old artificial intelligence coding startup last valued at $4 billion, has offered buyouts to the roughly 200 employees it acquired in a takeover of rival Windsurf three weeks ago, saying they will receive nine months of salary in return, according to an e-mail seen by The Information. The development comes after... Cognition, a two-year-old artificial intelligence coding startup last valued at $4 billion, has...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Art by Mike Sullivan

Inside OpenAI’s Rocky Path to GPT-5

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Aug 1, 2025 10:58am PDT · 9 comments

OpenAI made waves across the industry in December when it published the results from its tests of artificial intelligence that performs better on tasks when it gets more time and computing power to process them. The results implied ChatGPT customers were about to be blown away by what the new AI could do. But the euphoria was short-lived. When ... OpenAI made waves across the industry in December when it published the results from its tests of...

Zhipu CEO Zhang Peng. Photo via YouTube.

Chinese AI Developer Zhipu’s First Half Revenue Grew Fourfold

By Qianer Liu and Juro Osawa · Aug 1, 2025 6:00am PDT

Chinese artificial intelligence model developer Zhipu AI, whose progress has attracted Washington’s scrutiny and caught OpenAI’s attention, increased revenue as much as fourfold in the first half of the year, the Beijing-based startup’s CEO, Zhang Peng, said in an interview this week. Zhipu’s business remains relatively small—revenue last... Chinese artificial intelligence model developer Zhipu AI, whose progress has attracted Washington...

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Getty

Meta Is on the Hunt for AI Video Deals

By Rocket Drew, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Jul 31, 2025 12:09pm PDT

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Getty

Meta Is on the Hunt for AI Video Deals

By Rocket Drew, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Jul 31, 2025 12:09pm PDT

Meta Platforms is prowling for partnerships with startups that use artificial intelligence to create and edit videos, as the social media giant’s AI dealmaking blitz enters new terrain. In recent weeks, Meta and Pika, which develops AI that can generate realistic videos, have discussed a partnership, including a possible acquisition or a deal to... Meta Platforms is prowling for partnerships with startups that use artificial intelligence to...

Koray Kavukcuoglu. Photo courtesy of Google; Art by Mike Sullivan

How Google’s New AI Architect Plans to Spread Gemini Everywhere

By Erin Woo · Jul 31, 2025 6:00am PDT

When Google’s billionaire co-founder, Sergey Brin, needs something done at the company’s artificial intelligence unit—AI chips allocated to a team, a researcher hired, an employee moved to a new department—there’s one person he messages: Koray Kavukcuoglu. Kavukcuoglu isn’t Google’s flashiest AI leader, though he’s the chief... When Google’s billionaire co-founder, Sergey Brin, needs something done at the company’s...

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OpenAI Hits $12 Billion in Annualized Revenue, Breaks 700 Million ChatGPT Weekly Active Users

By Sri Muppidi · Jul 30, 2025 6:42pm PDT · 8 comments

OpenAI roughly doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching $12 billion in annualized revenue, according to a person who spoke to OpenAI executives. That figure implies the ChatGPT maker is generating $1 billion a month, compared to about $500 million a month at the start of the year. The growth comes as the company logs... OpenAI roughly doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching $12 billion in...

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Amazon Locks Down Against Google’s AI Shopping Agents

By Ann Gehan · Jul 30, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is taking steps to keep other companies’ artificial intelligence shopping tools from swarming its e-commerce site. In recent weeks, Amazon updated the code underpinning its website to add language warding off new AI agents from Google. These changes follow restrictions Amazon added earlier this year calling out bots from Perplexity,... Amazon is taking steps to keep other companies’ artificial intelligence shopping tools from...

Aidan Gomez, founder and CEO of Cohere. Photo by Getty

AI Startup Cohere Projects $200 Million Revenue Pace as New Funding Nears

By Sri Muppidi and Valida Pau · Jul 29, 2025 4:49pm PDT

Aidan Gomez, founder and CEO of Cohere. Photo by Getty

AI Startup Cohere Projects $200 Million Revenue Pace as New Funding Nears

By Sri Muppidi and Valida Pau · Jul 29, 2025 4:49pm PDT

Cohere, a Canadian artificial intelligence developer that competes with Anthropic and OpenAI, has sustained one of the richest valuations in the industry as a multiple of the relatively modest revenue it generates. Now it’s told investors that sales are picking up—enough to entice existing shareholders to sink more money into the... Cohere, a Canadian artificial intelligence developer that competes with Anthropic and OpenAI, has...

Andrew Feldman, co-founder of Cerebras. Photo by Getty.

Cerebras Seeks Up to $1 Billion in Private Funding, Delaying Possible IPO

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Jul 29, 2025 12:58pm PDT

Cerebras Systems, a startup that is developing artificial intelligence chips to challenge Nvidia’s, is planning to raise money privately, potentially delaying a plan to go public this year, the company has told investors. The company is in talks to raise up to $1 billion in fresh funding, according to a person familiar with the discussion.... Cerebras Systems, a startup that is developing artificial intelligence chips to challenge Nvidia’...

Groq CEO Jonathan Ross. Photo via Getty.

AI Chipmaker Groq Slashes Projections Soon After Sharing With Investors

By Miles Kruppa, Cory Weinberg and Anissa Gardizy · Jul 29, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

Groq, a richly funded chip startup trying to take on Nvidia, told investors early this year it was on track to have more than $2 billion in revenue for 2025. Within the past month, the number it gave to investors has fallen to more than $500 million, according to documents viewed by The Information. Groq’s $2 billion projection came around the... Groq, a richly funded chip startup trying to take on Nvidia, told investors early this year it...

Fireworks AI CEO and co-founder, Lin Qiao. Photo via Getty

AI Cloud Startup Fireworks Discusses $4 Billion Valuation Deal With Lightspeed, Index

By Sri Muppidi · Jul 28, 2025 4:41pm PDT · 1 comment

Fireworks AI, part of a new class of cloud providers that rents out Nvidia chip servers to developers that use artificial intelligence models, is in talks to raise capital at a $4 billion valuation including the investment, more than seven times its valuation from a year ago, according to two people familiar with the fundraise. New investors... Fireworks AI, part of a new class of cloud providers that rents out Nvidia chip servers to...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Microsoft’s Rivals Lean on AI to Pry Away Longtime Customers

By Aaron Holmes · Jul 28, 2025 10:00am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

Microsoft’s Rivals Lean on AI to Pry Away Longtime Customers

By Aaron Holmes · Jul 28, 2025 10:00am PDT

Artificial intelligence has suddenly made it cheaper and easier for companies to switch to new software providers, IT executives say. Now large AI providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce and Palantir are scrambling to win over each other’s customers, who might previously have felt they were locked into using old apps because of the... Artificial intelligence has suddenly made it cheaper and easier for companies to switch to new...

Figma IPO Set to Be a Windfall for Silicon Valley’s Biggest Names

By Cory Weinberg and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 28, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Silicon Valley royalty are set to be the big winners from Figma’s initial public offering this week. Former Meta and Google executive Sheryl Sandberg, former LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and venture capital firms Greylock Partners and Kleiner Perkins are all turning modest investments into windfalls ranging from tens of millions to more than $1... Silicon Valley royalty are set to be the big winners from Figma’s initial public offering this...

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Ramp in Talks to Raise at $21 Billion Valuation, Up 30% From June Financing

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Jul 25, 2025 3:50pm PDT

Ramp, a six-year-old corporate card and expense management startup, is in discussions with investors to raise $350 million at a valuation of about $21 billion with the investment, according to three people with direct knowledge of the fundraising, just a month after raising at a $16 billion valuation. Existing investor Iconiq is in talks to lead... Ramp, a six-year-old corporate card and expense management startup, is in discussions with...

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Inside Tesla’s Secretive Optimus Robot Program

By Theo Wayt and Rocket Drew · Jul 25, 2025 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

Elon Musk says humanoid robots will be the future of Tesla. The company has a long way to go. Tesla is well behind the pace necessary to meet Musk’s publicly stated goal of producing at least 5,000 of its Optimus humanoid robots this year, according to two people with knowledge of the program. So far, the number of robots it has made is in the... Elon Musk says humanoid robots will be the future of Tesla. The company has a long way to go. ...

Northvolt's plant in Skellefteå, Sweden. Photo via Getty.

Battery Industry Scavenger Lyten Hit by Cash Crunch

By Steve LeVine · Jul 24, 2025 8:43am PDT

Northvolt's plant in Skellefteå, Sweden. Photo via Getty.

Battery Industry Scavenger Lyten Hit by Cash Crunch

By Steve LeVine · Jul 24, 2025 8:43am PDT

Lyten, a tiny California battery startup, turned heads by snapping up assets from one of the industry’s most high-profile failures—but Lyten is now struggling itself. Lyten this week laid off its chief battery strategist, just three weeks after it bought a battery factory from bankrupt Northvolt. It also let go 45 of its 300 employees,... Lyten, a tiny California battery startup, turned heads by snapping up assets from one of the...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

Founders Fund, Dragoneer Each Commit $1 Billion–Plus to OpenAI Deal

By Sri Muppidi · Jul 23, 2025 1:20pm PDT

As OpenAI tries to raise a record-breaking $40 billion in equity funding this year, it’s getting help from more of its existing investors. Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Dragoneer Investment Group have committed to investing more than $1 billion each in the second, $30 billion installment of the round, according to a person who spoke to OpenAI... As OpenAI tries to raise a record-breaking $40 billion in equity funding this year, it’s getting...

Crusoe co-founder and CEO, Chase Lochmiller. Photo via Getty

Upstart Crusoe’s Audacious Plan to Take On Cloud Giants

By Anissa Gardizy and Cory Weinberg · Jul 23, 2025 6:09am PDT

Crusoe, the startup developing a giant data center for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate effort, is raising around $1 billion in a bid to join the race to provide computing power for artificial intelligence. The company burst into AI by promising quick access to electricity for power-hungry data centers. Its new effort will leverage that position... Crusoe, the startup developing a giant data center for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate effort, is...

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Meta Hires Three Google AI Researchers Who Worked on Gold Medal-Winning Model

By Kalley Huang and Erin Woo · Jul 22, 2025 1:07pm PDT

Meta Platforms has hired three more artificial intelligence researchers from Google DeepMind as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues his aggressive efforts to recover from stumbles earlier this year with an unprecedented AI recruiting push. The latest hires—Tianhe Yu, Cosmo Du and Weiyue Wang—worked on a version of Google’s Gemini... Meta Platforms has hired three more artificial intelligence researchers from Google DeepMind as...

Art via Mike Sullivan

Why Apple Is Losing Ground in the AI Talent War (It’s Not Just Money)

By Aaron Tilley and Wayne Ma · Jul 22, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art via Mike Sullivan

Why Apple Is Losing Ground in the AI Talent War (It’s Not Just Money)

By Aaron Tilley and Wayne Ma · Jul 22, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Earlier this year, the Apple team working on the company’s artificial intelligence models wanted to release several of them as open-source software. Doing so would have shown Apple’s technical progress in AI while also harnessing the help of outside researchers to improve the models. Still, it also would have revealed to the public how... Earlier this year, the Apple team working on the company’s artificial intelligence models wanted...