GeekWire

Popular methods of artificial intelligence have an "explainability problem," the inability to understand exactly what's happening between input and output, and this black box will hinder new advances from neural networks That's one of the predictions for 2023 from Mark R. Anderson, founding chair and CEO of Strategic News Service (SNS) and the Future in Review Conferences . An author, scientist, a...

The ongoing layoffs across the tech industry are impacting women at a disproportionately higher rate than men, representing a possible setback for the industry's efforts to improve its gender diversity. That’s according to research conducted by talent intelligence platform Eightfold AI . Our guest this week is Sania Khan, chief economist at talent intelligence platform Eightfold AI, and a former U...

This podcast features Kirill Zubovsky , a startup founder and consultant, who is now working with AI to create applications. He talks about his journey over the past few months with AI, his experience with generative AI and GPT-3, and the application of AI he has been working on, Smartynames , a domain and business name finder. He also talks about his experience living in a van with his two kids a...

One of the defining tech industry trends of the past decade, along with the meteoric expansion of big companies and their insatiable appetite for talent, was the growing influence of engineers commanding ever-increasing salaries.  That's changing with the waves of layoffs by Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Salesforce, Facebook parent Meta, and others. The big salary increases that worke...

Seattle Public Schools is suing TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat for damages stemming from what the suit describes as a youth mental health crisis. That crisis, the suit alleges, has been caused by the deliberate actions of the companies in deploying algorithms designed "to maximize engagement by preying on the psychology of children." GeekWire broke the news of the lawsuit last w...

What would a combination of OpenAI's ChatGPT natural language chatbot with Microsoft's Bing search engine look like? We discuss the potentially surprising possibilities with longtime journalist and Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley , editor-in-chief at DirectionsOnMicrosoft.com , following a report this week by The Information , citing unnamed sources who say Microsoft is working on just such an int...

How closely were you reading GeekWire this year? Here's your chance to put that accumulated knowledge to the test. It's our 2022 News Quiz — this year featuring multiple planes, a famed arcade, breakthrough innovations in science and technology, and the adventures of our local tech moguls.  If you want to take the quiz yourself before listening to the show, see geekwire.com/2022newsquiz. See omnys...

Startup entrepreneur and investor Ben Gilbert, co-founder and managing director of Pioneer Square Labs and PSL Ventures, is always watching for the next big tech wave. He concedes that there have been plenty of false starts in the industry in the past: augmented and virtual reality, "personal audio computing," and more. But Gilbert, who also co-hosts the popular podcast "Acquired," didn't hesitate...

Amazon is resetting its business. Is it doing enough to change its mindset? In an analysis published this week , advisor, speaker, author, and former Amazon executive John Rossman presents a blueprint for turning the company around — advocating a "zero-based mindset" in which every initiative needs to be justified from scratch, and a "brutal rationalization of capital expenses," among other steps....

For anyone reading the news about Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift , or Twitter and Elon Musk , the problem of malicious bots might seem insurmountable. These automated programs can snap up concert tickets in the blink of an eye, or pose as humans on social media, among countless other mischievous tasks. Bad bots are a big problem, accounting for one-quarter to as much as one-half of global internet...

Amazon created the initial technical scaffolding for Alexa quickly, jumping out to an early lead in the market for smart speakers and voice assistants in the home. But nearly a decade later, Alexa is still under construction.  That's the perspective from Tigger (Charlie) Kindel , a Seattle tech industry veteran who worked at Amazon from 2013 to 2018, leading Alexa product management before buildin...

It doesn't always come naturally to us, as cynical reporters, but every Thanksgiving week on the GeekWire Podcast, it's our tradition to take a step back and take stock of the positive things in technology, business, and science. This year's installment offers several reminders of the technologies that we might take for granted, gradual advancements that we incorporate into our lives over time, to...

Amazon became the latest tech giant to make layoffs in its corporate workforce this week in the face of the economic downturn, but the manner in which the plan unfolded left some employees scratching their heads, at best. Foreshadowed in a Nov. 10 Wall Street Journal report foreshadowing cutbacks in Amazon's devices division, the scope became clear with a New York Times report Nov. 14, saying that...

The year was 2011, Facebook was serving a mere 600 million users, and Mark Zuckerberg was making his pitch to a crowd of prospective hires inside the company's office near Pike Place Market — explaining why the social network had chosen Seattle for its first remote engineering hub. "We were like, alright, at some point, we should probably think about opening up offices in other places," he said. "...

Amazon has grown dramatically over the past decade, surpassing 1.5 million employees and extending its reach into nearly every corner of commerce and society. But now, the turbulent economy is forcing the tech giant to make a series of difficult decisions, cutting back in many areas while making strategic bets in others. It’s far from alone in facing these decisions. However, with its reach across...

Fully autonomous vehicles are closer to commonplace than you might expect, as cars and big rigs gain the ability to operate safely on our streets and highways. As one of the pioneers in the field, Chris Urmson has been there from the beginning, competing in the landmark DARPA Grand Challenge before going on to lead Google’s self-driving car initiative. Now he’s following through on the vision as t...

Can the online world move from the digital equivalent of medieval times to a new era of civilization? That was the question on  Charlie Bell ’s mind when the veteran engineering leader decided to leave Amazon after more than 23 years and join Microsoft to lead its $15 billion cybersecurity business, taking on what  he described as “one of the greatest challenges of our time.”   More than a year in...

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we hear the pitches made by four startup CEOs in the 32 seconds it takes to get to the top of Seattle's historic Smith Tower, on their way to winning their respective episodes on this season of GeekWire's Elevator Pitch series. It's a preview of the upcoming season finale, in which each of the four will make a final pitch at the GeekWire Summit next week , live o...

Hybrid work is here to stay, but some big changes are needed to make it work. That was the message from Microsoft this week as the tech giant presented the results of a new study showing a disconnect in the perceptions of productivity between workers and leaders at companies around the world. Meanwhile, the number of meetings for many workers has soared since the beginning of the pandemic, in what...

Business, government and environmental leaders from Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia met at the U.S.-Canada border this week to discuss the next steps in the quest to become the world's first sustainable mega-region. The Cascadia 2050 Vision conference was led by former Washington state governor Chris Gregoire, the CEO of Challenge Seattle and the co-chair of the steering committee for the...

Our guest this week is Ryan Calo , a University of Washington law professor who specializes in areas including privacy, artificial intelligence and robots. He's one of the organizers of We Robot , an annual conference where scholars and practitioners discuss legal and policy questions relating to robots and artificial intelligence. It's taking place this year at the University of Washington from S...

We are now decades into the digital revolution, so why haven't high-tech audio streams caught up to old-fashioned radio waves? That was my question on last week's GeekWire Podcast, after conducting an experiment inspired by the tradition of tuning into the play-by-play announcers while watching a baseball game in the stands. During a Seattle Mariners game at T-Mobile Park, I found that the audio s...

On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, recorded on location at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, we pit old-fashioned terrestrial radio against a newfangled digital audio stream for play-by-play in the stands. Then, we debate pros and cons of baseball analytics and robot umpires. And finally, we experience the highs and lows of Amazon's latest retail technology at the tech giant's hometown stadium. See...

Amazon is one of the most extraordinary business stories of our time. Many people in the tech industry have a general understanding of this story, picking up bits and pieces of its lore and culture over the years. But what are the real reasons for Amazon's success? What can today's startup entrepreneurs learn from what Jeff Bezos did? And where is the company headed next? Two investors spent the b...

Seattle investor and business leader Tom Alberg, who died last week at the age of 82 , was a key figure in the e-commerce and wireless industries, and in the Seattle startup community, through his roles as an early Amazon investor and longtime board member, executive at McCaw Cellular, and co-founder of Madrona Venture group. On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Todd Bishop and John Cook share...