The Big Read

Page 6
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

How Silicon Valley Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Middle East Money Again

By Margaux MacColl and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 19, 2024 6:00am PST · 1 comment
How do you know when a venture capitalist or founder is in Saudi Arabia looking to get a piece of the country’s piles of petro cash for their latest funds or startups? A telltale sign is the procession of Mercedes-Benz cars and SUVs weaving through the streets of Riyadh from the city’s Four Seasons Hotel to grand royal meeting rooms... How do you know when a venture capitalist or founder is in Saudi Arabia looking to get a piece of...
Art by Clark Miller
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How a Snap Sleeper Hit Got In the Heads of Its Young Subscribers

By Erin Woo · Jan 12, 2024 6:00am PST · 1 comment
As a home-schooled teenager in Agoura Hills, Calif., Jordyn Gilbert’s social life revolves around Snapchat. The app—known for the disappearing photos and videos called Snaps that its users share with others—is the default mode of communication for Gilbert and her friends. She estimates she has 70 Snapchat “streaks”... As a home-schooled teenager in Agoura Hills, Calif., Jordyn Gilbert’s social life revolves...
Art by Clark Miller
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5 Predictions About How AI Will (and Won’t) Affect the 2024 U.S. Election

By Alexandra Lindsay and Greg Dale · Jan 5, 2024 9:03am PST · 3 comments
Want to feel old? It was more than five years ago that director Jordan Peele teamed up with BuzzFeed to create a viral deepfake video of Barack Obama uttering a series of improbable lines, a clip meant to serve as a public service announcement for the dangers of how technology could be used to manipulate public opinion. “It may sound... Want to feel old? It was more than five years ago that director Jordan Peele teamed up with...
Art by Clark Miller
The Information’s 2023 Exit Survey of Tech Leaders
By The Information Staff · Dec 29, 2023 9:00am PST · 2 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

The Information’s 2023 Exit Survey of Tech Leaders

By The Information Staff · Dec 29, 2023 9:00am PST · 2 comments
It has been a year of extremes in tech—mass layoffs, society-rattling advancements in artificial intelligence, fraud convictions and record-breaking fundraises. We don’t blame you if your head is still spinning. With 2024 around the corner, we gave tech leaders a chance to reflect on the past 12 months by filling out our 2023 Exit... It has been a year of extremes in tech—mass layoffs, society-rattling advancements in...
Nick Pickles photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images. Art by Clark Miller.
The Big Read

Musk’s Mouthpiece: How Nick Pickles Fights Governments on Behalf of X

By Nancy Scola · Dec 22, 2023 9:00am PST · 2 comments
Nick Pickles has spent much of the last decade getting beaten up before legislative bodies. But one day this August, appearing via video in Canberra, Australia, he was having a particularly brutal time. The Australian Parliament was wrapping up a long-running inquiry into online child sexual exploitation, and David Shoebridge, a Green Party... Nick Pickles has spent much of the last decade getting beaten up before legislative bodies. But...
Jason Calacanis, David Friedberg, David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya have set their sights well beyond their Silicon Valley sphere of influence. Art by Clark Miller
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The Besties’ Revenge: How the ‘All-In’ Podcast Captured Silicon Valley

By Julia Black · Dec 15, 2023 9:05am PST · 29 comments
On December 1, seven months after he’d been fired from Fox News and days before he announced the launch of his own paid streaming service, Tucker Carlson appeared on the “All-In” podcast, the most talked about show in Silicon Valley. Joining Carlson for a freewheeling 93-minute-long conversation were the podcast’s... On December 1, seven months after he’d been fired from Fox News and days before he...
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Vinod Khosla Can See the Future. It Just Got Hazy for a Minute

By David Kirkpatrick · Dec 1, 2023 9:06am PST · 14 comments
Only minutes after Sam Altman was fired by the board of OpenAI on the afternoon of November 17, Vinod Khosla got a call from a major OpenAI investor. “What is going on?” the person asked. In the ensuing days, puzzled calls and texts from various principals continued streaming in. But even Khosla, one of OpenAI’s earliest... Only minutes after Sam Altman was fired by the board of OpenAI on the afternoon of November 17,...
Art by Clark Miller
From King to Exile to King Again: The Inside Story of Sam Altman’s Whiplash Week
By Paris Martineau and Julia Black · Nov 22, 2023 10:00am PST · 4 comments
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

From King to Exile to King Again: The Inside Story of Sam Altman’s Whiplash Week

By Paris Martineau and Julia Black · Nov 22, 2023 10:00am PST · 4 comments
Late Thursday afternoon, on what would become the eve of his firing from OpenAI, Sam Altman joined rivals from Google and Meta Platforms on stage at the APEC CEO Summit in San Francisco to discuss the future of artificial intelligence. In an uncanny foreshadowing of the drama to come, the event’s moderator was Laurene Powell Jobs, whose... Late Thursday afternoon, on what would become the eve of his firing from OpenAI, Sam Altman...
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

Healthcare Without Health Workers: A Unicorn Pivots to an AI Doctor-in-a-Box

By Annie Goldsmith · Nov 15, 2023 4:30am PST · 3 comments
If Adrian Aoun has his way, the next time you visit the doctor’s office, you won’t see a single medical professional. In fact, he said, “I don’t even believe a doctor’s office should exist.” Instead, the outspoken founder and CEO of primary care startup Forward wants you to entrust your health to a landmark... If Adrian Aoun has his way, the next time you visit the doctor’s office, you won’t...
Art by Clark Miller
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A Front-Row Seat at the Sam Bankman-Fried Circus

By Aidan Ryan · Nov 3, 2023 9:00am PDT · 9 comments
Shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, while most people were tucked in bed ahead of the new week, I stepped into an Uber outside my apartment in Brooklyn. I was on my way to the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan with the hopes of snagging one of the 21 courtroom seats to see Sam Bankman-Fried testify in his own criminal... Shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, while most people were tucked in bed ahead of the new...
The Ai Pin by Humane will feature a laser projector in place of a screen. Art by Clark Miller
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Has Humane Created the Next iPhone—or the Next Google Glass?

By Julia Black · Oct 27, 2023 6:00am PDT · 13 comments
In late September, a stakeholder in Humane received a humbled message from the startup. The Information had just broken the news that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had been secretly meeting with renowned former Apple designer Jony Ive. The duo was dreaming up the “iPhone of artificial intelligence,” according to later reports,... In late September, a stakeholder in Humane received a humbled message from the startup. The...
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy believes things are far from settled in the AI race: “We are like three steps into this marathon.” Art by Clark Miller; photo Getty.
Amazon’s Andy Jassy Plans to Crash the AI Party
By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 20, 2023 7:00am PDT · 13 comments
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy believes things are far from settled in the AI race: “We are like three steps into this marathon.” Art by Clark Miller; photo Getty.
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Amazon’s Andy Jassy Plans to Crash the AI Party

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 20, 2023 7:00am PDT · 13 comments
I’m nine minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with Andy Jassy when it becomes clear why the CEO has invited me to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. Like everyone else in business these days, he wants to talk about artificial intelligence. Unless you’ve been under a rock this year, you know that the breakthroughs in... I’m nine minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with Andy Jassy when it becomes...
Canva CEO Melanie Perkins: “She has a desire for worldwide domination.” AI generated art by Clark Miller
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The Unsinkable Melanie Perkins: After 100 Rejections, the Canva CEO Faces Her Greatest Threat Yet

By Annie Goldsmith · Oct 6, 2023 9:00am PDT · 8 comments
In little more than a decade, the expectations placed on 36-year-old Melanie Perkins have gone from negligible to near impossible. Perkins, CEO and co-founder of Canva, a rapidly-growing graphic design platform and one of tech’s most highly valued private companies, was a complete unknown from Perth, Australia, when she appeared on... In little more than a decade, the expectations placed on 36-year-old Melanie Perkins have gone...
Two children of San Francisco from opposite sides of the tracks: Mayor London Breed and philanthropist Daniel Lurie. Art by Clark Miller; Breed photo by Getty Images.
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Daniel Lurie Started Tech’s Favorite Charity. Can He Save Its Favorite City?

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 29, 2023 10:00am PDT · 11 comments
At 11 a.m. last Tuesday, a San Francisco icon stepped up to the podium at the century-old Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. With the Financial District’s half-vacant towers gleaming in the distance and the golden September sun streaming through the windows, the venue seemed stage-designed for a biopic: the room where a political star... At 11 a.m. last Tuesday, a San Francisco icon stepped up to the podium at the century-old Potrero...
Art by Clark Miller
The Big Read

Europe Has Figured Out How to Tame Big Tech. Can the U.S. Learn Its Tricks?

By Chris Stokel-Walker · Sep 22, 2023 11:00am PDT · 23 comments
Late last month in Belgium, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had a pressing question for Paul Tang, a Dutch politician and member of the European Parliament. How had they done it, she asked him. How had the EU managed to bring big tech to heel? The liberal Massachusetts senator, alongside Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), had stopped off in... Late last month in Belgium, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had a pressing question for Paul...
Gigafund co-founders Luke Nosek and Stephen Oskoui. Art by Clark Miller; Oskoui photo courtesy Gigafund.
The Elon Musk Investors With Dreams of a New Social Order
By Julia Black · Sep 15, 2023 9:31am PDT · 5 comments
Gigafund co-founders Luke Nosek and Stephen Oskoui. Art by Clark Miller; Oskoui photo courtesy Gigafund.
The Big Read

The Elon Musk Investors With Dreams of a New Social Order

By Julia Black · Sep 15, 2023 9:31am PDT · 5 comments
In February 2021, a Mormon film producer named Jeffrey Harmon returned home to Provo, Utah, raving about an exclusive gathering he’d just attended in Austin, Tex. He’d been invited by an old friend, Stephen Oskoui, who ran Austin-based venture capital firm Gigafund alongside Luke Nosek, a founding partner of Founders Fund and a... In February 2021, a Mormon film producer named Jeffrey Harmon returned home to Provo, Utah,...
Art by Clark Miller.
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The Instant Oral History of ‘Trench Foot Burning Man’

By Annie Goldsmith, Margaux MacColl, Natasha Mascarenhas, Akash Pasricha and Erin Woo · Sep 8, 2023 11:00am PDT · 1 comment
Burning Man 2023 began on Sunday, August 27, as it normally does: with several days of blistering sunshine, pounding bass and playa dust. Then, between Friday and Saturday, a surprise deluge hit northwest Nevada—dumping two months’ worth of rain in 24 hours—and things really began to get interesting. Justin Kan, general partner... Burning Man 2023 began on Sunday, August 27, as it normally does: with several days of blistering...
Midjourney CEO David Holz has bucked the tide among AI founders by boxing out venture capitalists. Midjourney art by Clark Miller
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‘He Doesn’t Need VC in His Life’: How Midjourney’s Founder Built an AI Winner While Rejecting Venture Capital

By Kate Clark · Sep 5, 2023 6:15am PDT · 6 comments
Ever since David Holz founded Midjourney in mid-2021, venture capitalists have been practically begging him to take their money. On top of cold-calling and emailing Holz incessantly, some have asked his inner circle for “warm” introductions. Others have preemptively sent him term sheets. A lucky few have landed meetings with the... Ever since David Holz founded Midjourney in mid-2021, venture capitalists have been practically...
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo engaged in a high-wire act of diplomacy during her four-day trip to China. Photo of Raimondo via Getty Images. Collage by Clark Miller.
The Big Read

‘Excited and Terrified’: On a High-Stakes Trip to China, Gina Raimondo Confronts a Complex Future

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 2, 2023 6:00am PDT · 15 comments
A former ambulance driver was whizzing me through the rainy streets of Shanghai to meet an eight-car motorcade and—hopefully—U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. She’d been a hard person to wrangle during her three-day diplomatic trip to China, and I had been given the smallest of windows for a face-to-face interview: just 15... A former ambulance driver was whizzing me through the rainy streets of Shanghai to meet an...
Art by Clark Miller.
‘Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand’: Stars Are Quietly Inking Deals to License Their AI Doubles
By Julia Black · Aug 18, 2023 9:00am PDT · 2 comments
Art by Clark Miller.
The Big Read

‘Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand’: Stars Are Quietly Inking Deals to License Their AI Doubles

By Julia Black · Aug 18, 2023 9:00am PDT · 2 comments
In 2008, while working with Will Smith on the set of a film that never ended up getting made, Remington Scott had an epiphany. The visual effects director was watching Smith stand in a photogrammetry booth, with dozens of cameras capturing the actor’s facial features from every possible angle. “Every single major star on that level,... In 2008, while working with Will Smith on the set of a film that never ended up getting made,...