GeekWire

This week, Seattle-area software developer and AI entrepreneur Patrick Husting of Ghostwriter AI and the Equestrian App returns to the show to talk about the evolution of artificial intelligence over the past two years, how people are using the technology today, and where things are headed in 2025.

Related links

• Can Microsoft avoid the ghost of Clippy? Familiar theme emerges in Copilot rollout for Office apps
• ‘Ghostwriter’ in the machine: How this software developer is integrating AI into work and life
• Microsoft Word gets ChatGPT integration with new ‘Ghostwriter’ third-party add-in
• WSJ: Microsoft Is Forcing Its AI Assistant on People—and Making Them Pay
• Elon Musk's xAI Launches Standalone Grok App
• Boy Genius Report: ChatGPT o1 hacked a chess game to cheat against a better opponent

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; edited and produced by Curt Milton

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What happens when you mix modern AI with a piece of vintage technology and the musical stylings of a very amateur guitarist? You might be surprised. 

That's the subject of this week's episode. GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop's fun holiday project, revisiting a favorite gadget from his youth, illustrated some bigger themes about the AI that has emerged in the past two years, and the role it can play in life and work. 

Read more here: 'From impossible to merely difficult': AI meets a vintage 1980s musical gadget

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Michael Schutzler, the newly retired CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), joins us on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast to reflect on his 11 years running the not-for-profit trade association, assess the state of the tech industry in Seattle and Washington state, and discuss what's next for him.

Schutzler, who has been succeeded as WTIA's CEO by Kelly Fukai, previously its COO, wrote about the extraordinary history of the state's tech industry in a recent post marking the WTIA's 40th anniversary and his retirement.

See more highlights from the episode in this GeekWire post.

Related coverage:

• WTIA CEO Michael Schutzler retiring after 11 years leading Washington state tech group
• WTIA honors 40 years of boosting Washington’s tech sector as new CEO aims for more impact

With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we sit down with some of the Seattle region’s “Uncommon Thinkers” — inventors, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs transforming industries and driving positive change in the world.

We recorded the episode on location, backstage at the GeekWire Gala, where we recognized five Uncommon Thinkers through this annual awards program, presented in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners.

Speaking on the episode are:

• Uri Shumlak, co-founder and chief scientist at Zap Energy, a physicist leading a team in pursuit of fusion energy, taking a different approach from others in the field. Read the profile.
• Ingrid Swanson Pultz, CTO at Mopac Biologics, and translational advisor at the UW Institute for Protein Design, a microbiologist who led the development of a gluten-destroying enzyme. Read the profile.
• Chris Dunckley, director of chemistry and engineering of TerraPower Isotopes, a chemical engineer who leads a team turning radioactive waste into cancer therapy. Read the profile.
• Andy Lapsa, aerospace engineer and CEO of Stoke Space, a company focused on developing fully and rapidly reusable space vehicles using a liquid cooling technique for re-entry. Read the profile.

Also featured in in the Uncommon Thinkers series: Hanna Hajishirzi of the Allen Institute for AI and the UW's Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, who focuses on open-source Ai models. Read the profile.

With GeekWire's Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amazon's AI strategy came into focus this week with the unveiling of Amazon Nova, its new family of homegrown AI models, a new AI model marketplace for Amazon Bedrock, and other news from the AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. 

It turns out we've seen this before. As the company's AI strategy emerges, there are numerous similarities to its e-commerce business  including low cost, broad selection, products from Amazon and its selected vendors, and a marketplace. (This Fortune piece by reporter Jason Del Rey explores these parallels in detail.)

After spending four days in Las Vegas, attending sessions, and talking with AWS executives and attendees, GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook offer their takeaways and dissect Amazon's AI strategy on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, recorded on location at the GeekWire Studios booth on the show floor. 

Related links and coverage

• Apple makes surprise cameo at AWS re:Invent
• Amazon unveils ‘Nova’ AI models, looking to make its mark in the generative AI revolution
• ‘An easy button to get off Windows’: Amazon’s new AI moves Microsoft apps to Linux
• Amazon expands Bedrock with new AI model marketplace, a day after unveiling its own ‘Nova’

Edited by Curt Milton.

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, our guest is Sam Schillace, a deputy CTO at Microsoft and author of the new book, "No Prize for Pessimism," the first title from Microsoft's new publishing imprint, 8080 Books. Schillace discusses the importance of optimism in innovation, drawing parallels between the early cloud era and the current AI revolution. He also shares his past experiences as one of the creators of Google Docs, and emphasizes the value of tackling difficult, non-obvious problems.

Related Links: 

• Sam Schillace's Sunday Letters on Substack.
• The No Prize for Pessimism custom GPT.
• No Prize for Pessimism on Amazon.
• GeekWire: Microsoft turns a new page in the book business with its own publishing imprint

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; Edited by Curt Milton.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we discuss Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, which now includes Microsoft, and assess the complexities of the OpenAI-Microsoft partnership, as illustrated by early email exchanges revealed in the lawsuit.

We also consider the latest update to the GeekWire 200, our ranked index of Pacific Northwest technology startups, including the rise of Highspot to the top spot, and other trends in the Seattle region's startup ecosystem. 

And we share highlights from tech events around the region this week, including the WTIA's 40th Anniversary, where Mayor Bruce Harrell addressed AI and the incoming presidential administration; and an interesting takeaway from a panel of startup leaders whose companies made the latest Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list. 

Related links and coverage

• Internal emails: Elon Musk wanted to keep OpenAI from becoming ‘Microsoft’s marketing bitch’
• GeekWire 200 update: A new No. 1 rises to the top of our startup rankings
• WTIA honors 40 years of boosting Washington’s tech sector as new CEO aims for more impact
• Seattle mayor, who sits on a federal AI panel, says he’ll seek ways to work with Trump administration

With GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we dive into Amazon's launch of a new discount storefront called Amazon Haul, and explore what it says about the future of e-commerce and generational shifts in shopping. Guests Michael Levin and Josh Lowitz of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) provide insights into the long-term trends around Amazon Prime membership and consumer behaviors on the platform.

• CIRP: Amazon Report on Substack. (Check out their Apple Report, as well.)
• GeekWire: Hands-on with Amazon Haul: First impressions of the e-commerce giant’s new Temu and Shein rival
• Amazon: Introducing Amazon Haul—a broad selection of products $20 or less, with most under $10
• Business Insider: Amazon's new discount section, 'Haul,' looks like a Temu version of Temu

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This special edition of the GeekWire Podcast is the first in a four-episode series that we’ll be publishing in the months ahead as part of our year-long Microsoft @ 50 project, recognizing the company’s 50th anniversary in April 2025. 

On this episode, we’ll take a fresh look at Microsoft’s startup story with tech historian and author Margaret O’Mara of the University of Washington, author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America; plus highlights from a recent conversation with David Marquardt, Microsoft’s first outside investor and a longtime board member.

Register here for our Microsoft @ 50 event, March 20, 2025, in Seattle.

Microsoft @ 50 is an independent GeekWire editorial project supported by Accenture.

With GeekWire Co-Founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, it's a grab-bag of topics, including self-driving wheelchairs, Expedia Group Chairman Barry Diller's comments on the prospects for an acquisition by Uber, and an update on GeekWire's upcoming events and coverage.

In the final segment, we discuss what the new Trump administration could mean for technology regulation, including the FTC's antitrust case against Amazon and oversight for tech M&A.

Related coverage and links

• NYT: Tech Giants Face a Familiar Uncertainty With Trump
• Expedia chairman Barry Diller on potential deal with Uber and Washington Post’s ‘blunder’
• Sea-Tac Airport’s self-driving wheelchairs are getting stymied by unexpected obstacles

Upcoming GeekWire Events

• GeekWire Gala, Dec. 12: Register here.
• Microsoft @ 50: Special series and March 20 event.

With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.