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Greetings! When I last checked, Google co-founder Sergey Brin was still one of the two people who between them control the massive tech company. As of last year, at least, Brin had a 25% voting stake, while his co-founder, Larry Page, had a tad more. So why on earth is Brin suggesting people on Google's Gemini team come into the office every day and in general work harder (like 60 hours a week), as The New York Times reported? If Brin thinks that should happen, why doesn't he make it happen? Instead, a Google spokesperson says the official policy mandating that people work in the office just three days a week has not changed. Maybe Brin was simply expressing his views on work habits to the Gemini team—the one under the most pressure at Google—as a way to energize them. We hear that back in 2016 he made the same point to employees about 60 hours a week being the "sweet spot" of productivity. If that's the case, fair enough. But maybe Brin's reluctance to push harder is part of Google's problem. An iconic co-founder and major shareholder like Brin should be best positioned to effect change at Google, so why doesn't he try? Is his reluctance to do so one reason why Google's Gemini is lagging in the increasingly competitive artificial intelligence market? It's surely not the only reason. My colleague Erin Woo reported last week on the internal divisions that have complicated Google's AI efforts, a sign of how hard it is for a company as big as Google to work smoothly toward a clear goal. Conflicting priorities show up in products: On my Google Pixel 9 phone, for instance, I have to choose between deploying Google Assistant or Gemini. I've picked Gemini, but, depending on how I ask a question, Google Assistant may answer—responding with less information than Gemini would. It's not an ideal experience. All big companies suffer from internal tensions, of course, but those run by strong leaders tend to move more quickly on stuff, as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have demonstrated. Google should be in the same position: Brin and Page have control. They should exercise it. As it often does nowadays, AI dominated the news this week—from Nvidia's earnings to big developments at Meta Platforms. We broke the news that Meta is in talks to build a new AI data center that could cost more than $200 billion. Arm CEO Rene Haas talked with Anissa Gardizy about the competition facing Nvidia. We published this update on AI startup Cohere's revenue and details on what investors are offering Perplexity. And at our AI Agenda Live event on Thursday, Vinod Khosla warned that most investments in AI will lose money (read more from that conference). Elsewhere in enterprise software, Cory and Michael Roddan delved deep into the bitter rivalry between Rippling and Deel. Separately, Natasha Mascarenhas and Kevin McLaughlin told us how Cohesity, a fierce rival of Rubrik, is doing—including what it is projecting for revenue this fiscal year. And we listed 92 enterprise software startups that could be for sale this year. Outside AI, Ann Gehan revealed that investors are growing tired of the flood of celebrities wanting to start their own brand. Cory Weinberg detailed the big IPOs coming up, most obviously CoreWeave's but also including those of Genesys, Chime and Klarna. Kalley Huang and Kaya Yurieff broke the news that Instagram is considering launching a stand-alone app for its TikTok-like Reels service. Theo Wayt scooped that Amazon is launching Haul, its Temu-rival bargain-basement site, globally. For an update on last week's huge crypto hack, Yueqi Yang looked at how Bybit was coping—with some help from competitors. Check out this profile of AI video pioneer Runway, battling against the big dogs of Google and OpenAI. As CEO Cristobal Valenzuela said, "We see these other companies as creating concept cars while we're building a real car." • Tesla applied for a permit with a California regulator that would allow the electric car maker to operate a ride-hailing service, Bloomberg reported. • Microsoft is shutting down Skype, the pioneering internet phone service it bought in 2011 for $8.5 billion, so it can focus on its Teams product. The Information Weekend covers what happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends and people shaping culture, technology and everything in between. Subscribe for free today. | 
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