The Morning Download: Former Twitter Chief Bets on an AI Agent-Friendly Internet

Good morning. As AI agents get more sophisticated and take on increasingly complex multi-step tasks like code analysis and deep research, demand is rising for a specialized infrastructure backend. 

We're seeing this in the explosion of specialized chips and systems for inferencing from the likes of Google, Groq, Cerebras and even Nvidia (more on that below). 

But that's only part of the story. If inferencing chips deliver the compute, much of the environment these long-running agents act in — gathering information, completing transactions, navigating sites — is the web.

The WSJ Leadership Institute's Belle Lin reports on Parallel Web Systems, a startup founded by Parag Agrawal, the former chief executive of Twitter, that recently raised $100 million in Series B funding on the premise of making the web more agent friendly.

Parallel's platform is dedicated to servicing AI agents and allowing them to most efficiently and accurately search the web to complete tasks such as insurance claims processing and digging through government contracts—many of which fall under the category of "deep research."

Agrawal tells Belle his bet was “agents will use the web a lot more than humans,” and therefore, need their own infrastructure to access it.

The round was led by Sequoia Capital, and boosts the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup’s valuation to $2 billion.

Agrawal, Parallel’s founder, was CEO of Twitter until late 2022, when he was ousted by Twitter-acquirer Elon Musk. Before that he served as Twitter’s chief technology officer

In an earlier conversation with Belle at the WSJ Technology Council Summit in February he talked about the difference between the various roles.

"Being a CTO at a post product-market fit company... is about adapting yourself to the circumstance. Becoming the CEO of that company is adapting the company to you and who you are. Starting a company is like finding your inner calling and really embracing … like taking it to the next level, to be like, what can I dedicate the next one, two decades of my life to, in a way that will be material."

Shares of Oracle, CoreWeave, SoftBank and other firms tied to OpenAI slumped on Tuesday, with those three all dropping at least 4% after The Wall Street Journal reported the ChatGPT maker missed its own targets for revenue and users.

The rally may be further tested today as Alphabet, Amazon.com, Microsoft and Meta Platforms report earnings. 

And we’re off. Elon Musk took the stand Tuesday in a landmark trial in Oakland, Calif. that could potentially upend OpenAI’s future, the WSJ's Angel Au-Yeung reports.

The accusation. Musk has accused OpenAI and Chief Executive Sam Altman of manipulating him into thinking he was donating tens of millions of dollars to help launch a nonprofit to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, only to turn it into a for-profit venture.

The players. Steven Molo, Musk's lead attorney, in opening statements sought to highlight Musk’s concern about the impact of AI on humanity as well as his integral role in starting OpenAI.

William Savitt, lead attorney for Altman and OpenAI, said Musk showed up “once in a while” to give advice and “occasionally yell at people for not moving fast enough.”

The name-calling. 

Chip startup aims to shatter AI’s dreaded memory wall. The AI industry shift from training AI models to querying them, a process known as inference, spells new opportunities for both established chipmakers and startups. Google last week announced its own inference chip, TPU 8i. Chip startup Cerebras recently struck an inference deal with AWS and even Nvidia has got in the game, unveiling its own inference solution, paired with chips from startup Groq.

Google agrees to let the Defense Department use its AI tools in classified settings.  The tech giant’s deal with the Defense Department essentially allows AI to be used in all lawful scenarios, a person familiar with the matter said. OpenAI and xAI have reached similar agreements in recent weeks. Anthropic refused the department’s preferred terms and escalated a monthslong feud with the Trump administration.

AWS welcomes OpenAI. A day after the ChatGPT maker and Microsoft revised their partnership, allowing OpenAI to sell products across any cloud provider, Amazon announced Tuesday that the AI startup's models available would be available on its cloud, Axios reports. 

TikTok you don't stop (shopping). As Americans turn to TikTok Shop to buy shampoo, jewelry and apparel, retailers, including Ralph Lauren, Olaplex Holdings and Ulta Beauty are setting up stores on the platform, the WSJ reports. Consumers’ spending on the platform was up 46% in the first three months of this year compared with the previous year.

AI startups are fueling a new boom in Manhattan’s commercial real-estate market. In 2025, AI companies signed leases for more than 845,000 square feet, according to real-estate-services firm JLL. This year, they are leasing at nearly double that rate, securing more than 414,000 square feet in the first quarter.

But leasing space in a hot nabe like SoHo or Flatiron District or NoMad is not the same as occupying said space, as the WSJ Leadership Institute's Isabelle discovered on a recent tour: "On any given day, many of these offices boast more vacant desks than workers," she reports.

Lease it and they will come... As some AI firms see it, nabbing the cool space takes precedence. Some companies say they want room to grow hire. Others say a New York office space offers them critical credibility with clients, even if they currently have only a couple of local employees.

Bloomberg reports on a similar office space rush in London.

President Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said, targeting the regime’s coffers in a high-risk bid to compel a nuclear capitulation Tehran has long refused. (WSJ)

The Iran war is scrambling the longstanding foundations of the oil market, ushering in a more fragmented and potentially more volatile energy world. The free flow of petroleum across oceans is out. Resource nationalism is in. (WSJ)

This summer’s World Cup was supposed to be the triumphant return of the planet’s favorite sport to America. The first match should have been a sold-out celebration. Instead, soaring ticket prices have left U.S. fans irate and potentially thousands of seats six weeks before the tournament begins. (WSJ)

Jimmy Kimmel doubled down on his criticism of President Trump during his show on Tuesday, the same day Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr launched an early review of Disney’s broadcast television licenses. (WSJ)

The WSJ Tech Council brings together CIOs, CTOs and CISOs advancing innovation and shaping the future. Join this trusted community where tech executives connect with peers to explore emerging trends and gain the perspective they need to stay ahead of disruption.

Request Information

The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.