The appointment of Bratton reflects a broader structural shift in the technology sector as it enters what analysts call the "innovation supercycle." While 2024 and 2025 were defined by massive capital expenditures in AI infrastructure—estimated by PwC to reach between $5 trillion and $8 trillion over the next five years—2026 is emerging as the year of application. For a subscription-based powerhouse like The Information, the addition of a dedicated reporter for AI applications is a calculated response to the growing demand for granular intelligence on how software-as-a-service (SaaS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms are embedding agentic AI to drive corporate productivity.
This shift is occurring against a backdrop of significant political and macroeconomic change. Under the administration of U.S. President Trump, who was inaugurated in January 2025, the U.S. tech sector has faced a dual environment of aggressive deregulation and heightened domestic investment incentives. The administration’s focus on maintaining American AI supremacy has accelerated the deployment of AI in traditional sectors like manufacturing and finance. Consequently, the "beat" Bratton is inheriting is no longer just about Silicon Valley startups; it is about the intersection of high-tech automation and the broader U.S. economy, where AI agents are now performing multi-step workflows with minimal human oversight.
Data from the 2026 Global Insurance Outlook by EY suggests that technology disruption and AI integration remain the top challenges for CEOs this year. Furthermore, the M&A market has become increasingly "K-shaped," with deal values rising—driven by megadeals over $5 billion—while volumes remain flat. Many of these transactions, such as recent acquisitions by Salesforce and Workday, are specifically aimed at acquiring agentic AI capabilities. Bratton’s role will likely involve deconstructing these complex integrations, which are often obscured by corporate marketing but carry profound implications for the future of the workforce.
The move also highlights the intensifying competition within business journalism. As enterprise software companies like Oracle and SAP roll out autonomous agents for everything from payroll to supply chain management, the need for reporters who can distinguish between "assistive AI" (simple suggestions) and "agentic AI" (autonomous execution) has become a competitive necessity. Bratton’s experience at Yahoo Finance and Quartz provides her with the market-centric lens required to analyze how these technological shifts translate into valuation drivers and operational efficiencies.
Looking forward, the trend of "sector convergence" will likely dominate Bratton’s coverage. As technology companies invest directly in energy infrastructure to power data centers, and industrial firms acquire software arms to automate R&D, the boundaries of "enterprise software" are blurring. The Information’s decision to double down on this niche suggests that the next wave of tech journalism will be defined by investigative reporting into the "black box" of enterprise automation—analyzing not just what the technology can do, but how it is fundamentally rewriting the rules of global commerce and labor under the current administration’s economic framework.
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