GeekWire

This week on the show, we peel back the layers of Microsoft's hiring of AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman and colleagues from Inflection AI, considering how it plays into the trend of the Redmond company striking deals that look a lot like acquisitions, without actually being acquisitions. Then, we delve into the U.S. Justice Department’s landmark antitrust lawsuit against Apple, and consider the parall...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast : The rise, fall, and revival of Zulily. We revisit one the most prominent ecommerce brands to come out of Seattle, explain its decline, and consider a plan by Beyond Inc. , led by investor and entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis, to acquire its brand assets and relaunch the site. With GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper and co-founder Todd Bishop. See omnystudio.com/li...

Artificial intelligence is a powerful technology that promises to reshape the future, but it also poses many risks. One of the most pressing issues is the lack of regulation and oversight of the data used to train AI models. A new nonprofit, the Seattle-based Transparency Coalition (transparencycoalition.ai) aims to address this issue. The co-founders of the group, veteran startup founders and tec...

A new report points to a crisis of trust in innovation, and the risk that rapid technological change — especially in the field of artificial intelligence — will fuel increased populism and polarization across societies. Richard Edelman , CEO of Edelman , discussed these and other findings from the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer during visits last week with the global communications firm's clients in...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, our guests are John Rossman and Kevin McCaffrey, authors of the new book, "Big Bet Leadership." It's a playbook for business leaders to systematically make bets in a way that reduces risk and increases long-term flexibility. The book draws lessons from the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile and SpaceX, while also leaning heavily on the first-hand experience of...

Entrepreneur and investor Chris DeVore had an inside view of Techstars Seattle as one of the original leaders of the local startup accelerator in 2010, serving as its managing director from 2014 to 2019. His Feb. 21 post "What went wrong at Techstars," looked closely at the organization's evolution — including its increased focus on corporate sponsorships and shift to centralized fundraising — as...

Techstars Seattle helped launch more than 160 startups over the past decade, partnered with the likes of Microsoft and Amazon to spark even more startups, and led to the creation of three companies currently valued at more than $1 billion — making it one of the most successful programs in the Techstars network.  Founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colo., Techstars provides fledgling startups with early ca...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, stick around to the end for a late-breaking addition to the show — a bonus segment about OpenAI's new AI video generation technology Sora . Joining the show is Rahul Sood , CEO and co-founder of Irreverent Labs , a Seattle-area startup that is working on AI to turn images and text into video. We also discuss the Seattle-area startups that are bringing employees i...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, Todd Bishop and John Cook examine the timing of Jeff Bezos' plan to sell up to 50 million shares of Amazon stock, in the context of his public announcement that he would be moving to Miami; assess Satya Nadella's track record as Microsoft CEO as he reaches 10 years in the role ; and test an example of how text-to-speech applications could change the way we engage...

First up this week on the GeekWire Podcast: an inside take on developing software for the Apple Vision Pro. We talked with a longtime software developer for Apple platforms, Ken Case, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Omni Group , which makes productivity apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and just released a version of its  OmniPlan  project management software for the newly launched Apple Vision...

Our guest this week is someone who is experimenting every day with AI, pushing the capabilities of the existing tools and technologies: Kevin Leneway , principal software engineer at the Pioneer Square Labs startup incubator in Seattle. He talks about the tools he's using across his personal and work life, and how they're transforming the process of innovation and creativity. He also shares detail...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we consider Microsoft's latest AI product, the $20/month Copilot Pro, compare it to the likes of ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro and Otter.ai — and realize in the process that one of us is already paying way too much for AI assistants on a monthly basis. Plus, a deep dive on Zulily bolsters a hypothesis about the motives of the private equity firm that acquired and late...

Liz Hamren has been CEO of Amazon's Ring business for almost a year, as the successor in the role to Ring founder Jamie Siminoff. Hamren previously held technology and business leadership positions at companies including Dropcam, Microsoft, Oculus, and Discord, and was involved in product launches including Xbox consoles and Meta VR headsets. In addition to Ring, she leads Blink, Amazon Key, and A...

This week's guest,  Nancy Wang, is a technology product and engineering executive, advisor, and investor. A former Amazon Web Services general manager and former Google lead product manager, she is a venture partner at Felicis Ventures, where she invests in early-stage startups in cybersecurity, enterprise infrastructure, and business-to-business software as a service. She is also founder and boar...

Our guest this week on the GeekWire Podcast is computer scientist and entrepreneur Oren Etzioni , assessing the past year in AI, and looking ahead to what's next. Etzioni, an AI leader for many decades, is professor emeritus at the University of Washington, Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence board member, AI2 Incubator technical director, and Madrona Venture Group venture partner. In the...

Our guest this week is Kristi Coulter, whose latest book is Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career . It’s a memoir about what she learned in her 12 years at Amazon about work, gender bias, and herself. Exit Interview is Coulter's second book. Her first, Nothing Good Can Come From This , is a collection of essays about quitting drinking. As you’ll learn from this podcast conversa...

GeekWire's reporters have spent the past month profiling a group of six “Uncommon Thinkers” : Seattle-area inventors, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs transforming industries and driving positive change in the world. This editorial series, presented in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners, was based on the deliberations of a panel of outside judges who chose the Uncommon Thinkers f...

AI was the big theme inside the long-running Amazon Web Services re:Invent cloud conference in Las Vegas this week, where the company's announcements included a new AI assistant for work called Amazon Q. We spoke with Matt Wood, AWS vice president of product, about the new service and the new era of AI for business.  Related Coverage: Sphere of influence? Google’s big Vegas ad buy clouds the lands...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we assess the outcome of the drama at OpenAI, considering what the removal and ultimate return of its CEO Sam Altman, and everything that happened in between, means for Microsoft. While Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella earned kudos for masterfully navigating the mess, the situation also showed how the company was vulnerable to being blindsided due to OpenAI's convolut...

The  surprise removal of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman  is the buzz of the tech industry — raising questions about the company’s role in the AI revolution, the ambitions of Altman and his team, the impact of his exit on the rest of the tech industry, OpenAI’s complex corporate structure, and its unusual partnership with Microsoft. This week, we recap the latest developments in this fast-moving story, and...

Fei-Fei Li 's new book is the story of her journey from China to the U.S., from small business to Big Tech, and from academic research to corporate life, and back again. But more than that, it's the story of the dawn of artificial intelligence, as told through her experience as one of the people summoning this new day and standing there awestruck, excited and concerned about what it will mean for...

What should we make of Jeff Bezos' decision to move his primary residence from Seattle to Miami ? That's our first topic on this week's episode. Plus, Convoy's final destination; a new AI feature from Seattle startup Yoodli that helps startup founders hone their pitches; and Amazon tests Bluetooth earplugs for warehouse workers . Related stories and links ‘Seattle, you will always have a piece of...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we're featuring a panel discussion from the recent GeekWire Summit in Seattle, with three technology and business leaders offering first-hand insights into the new era of artificial intelligence. Bridget Frey, CTO at Redfin , the tech-powered real estate company that operates in more than 100 markets in the U.S. and Canada. Inbal Shani, chief product officer at G...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we examine the market forces, debt, and other dynamics that put the digital freight marketplace Convoy out of business, bringing one of the Seattle region's top startups to the end of the road. Related coverage:  ‘The markets crushed us’: In tearful farewell to employees, Convoy execs reflect on shutdown Convoy collapse: Read CEO’s memo detailing sudden shutdown...

Our guest this week is Geordie Rose , co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI. The global conversation about robots and the workforce has shifted substantially in recent years, from concern about robots taking jobs to questions about how quickly they can fill gaps in the labor market.  One of the ventures at the forefront of this issue is Sanctuary AI. It's a Vancouver, B.C.-based company that has rais...