GeekWire

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 from nominations submitted by GeekWire readers. 

Working on these profiles helped us identify the commonalities among our honorees, including their inspirations, mindsets, and approaches. On this week's GeekWire Podcast, we talk with four of our Uncommon Thinkers in interviews recorded backstage at the GeekWire Gala, where we honored them this week.

Read the six “Uncommon Thinkers” profiles here:

• UW prof and entrepreneur Shwetak Patel has a rare ‘creative brilliance’
• Elizabeth Hansen uses her job as an anesthesiologist to cut carbon emissions
• Boundless CEO Xiao Wang on his quest to fix the immigration process
• For USAFacts’ Poppy MacDonald, ‘facts are paramount’ for democracy
• Blake Resnick finds a larger purpose in tech, making drones for public safety
• MagniX CTO Riona Armesmith geeks out over electric aviation

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop.

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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 landscape at Amazon re:Invent
• AWS unveils ‘Amazon Q’ AI assistant, jabs at Microsoft and OpenAI at re:Invent
• Inside the AI chip race: How a pivotal happy hour changed Amazon’s strategy in the cloud
• Amazon puts Fire TV Cube to work, repurposes streaming device for desktop computing

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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 convoluted structure.

And while for-profit interests are likely to get more influence on OpenAI's reformulated board, it's not yet clear if Microsoft will end up with a seat on that board, leaving the ultimate outcome for Microsoft unclear, for now.

We also look at Amazon's move into car-buying, and examine the Seattle region's dwindling flock of unicorns.

With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook.

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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 then talk with Matt McIlwain of Madrona Venture Group about the broader implications of Altman's ouster for Microsoft, Amazon, and the tech industry.

RELATED STORY: Sam Altman’s ouster puts a new twist into OpenAI’s complicated relationship with Microsoft

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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 humanity.

Dr. Li joins us on this episode to discuss the book, The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI, published by Moment of Lift Books, an imprint from Melinda French Gates and Flatiron Books.

Known for her foundational contributions to AI and computer vision, Dr. Li is the inventor of ImageNet, a large-scale dataset of images that enabled rapid advances in deep learning for visual recognition. She is a professor of computer science at Stanford University and a co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, who worked as Google Cloud's chief scientist for AI/ML during a 2017-2018 sabbatical.

Note: GeekWire's Todd Bishop will be speaking further with Dr. Li on Monday evening Nov. 13 at Town Hall in Seattle. See this site for details and tickets.

Edited by Curt Milton.

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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 my heart’: Jeff Bezos leaving Amazon’s hometown for Miami
• Jeff Bezos’ move out of Washington state sparks questions about wealth taxes
• Swimming from Seattle? Jeff Bezos’ big move brings us full circle from the mid-1990s

Flexport buys Convoy’s tech; Convoy CEO Dan Lewis, other employees to join freight company

AI-powered ‘VC pitch coach’ from Yoodli helps startup founders prepare to face investors

Amazon tests letting warehouse workers listen to music and other audio via Bluetooth earplugs

With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. 

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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 GitHub, the software development platform used by more than 100 million developers around the world.
• David Shim, CEO at Read AI, a Seattle-based startup using AI to provide a new window into meetings, and transform them in the process.

Frey, Shani and Shim share real-world examples of AI impacting software development, real estate, and meetings. They address topics like privacy, bias, education, and the future of work. They also discuss the changing nature of technical jobs, and a blurring of the line between developers and non-developers.

From the audience, we get questions about adapting AI to account for emotional intelligence; advice for aspiring engineers; preventing synthetic content from corrupting human experiences; protecting proprietary corporate data; and the prospects for improving work-life balance as AI increases productivity.

See GeekWire.com for notes and takeaways. Hosted by GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Podcast audio editing by Curt Milton. On-site A/V by Adavanza.

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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 of Seattle trucking startup

Convoy raised $260 million just 18 months ago, at a valuation of $3.8 billion. Its investor list was a who's who of tech moguls and celebrities, including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Marc Benioff, and even Bono and The Edge of U2 fame. 

GeekWire co-founder John Cook, who has covered startups and venture capital since before the dot-com bust, compares Convoy's implosion to past flameouts of high-profile startups, and explains the long-term trends in investing that served as the backdrop for Convoy's demise. After a long stretch of free-flowing capital at astronomical valuations, fundamental business realities are catching up to some heavily funded startups.

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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 raised more than $100 million Canadian dollars to pursue its vision for labor as a service.

Sanctuary makes a 5-foot, 7-inch general-purpose humanoid robot called Phoenix, powered by an advanced AI system called Carbon.

Related: With new Phoenix robot, Sanctuary AI looks to usher in ‘labor as a service’

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella testified this week in Google's antitrust case in Washington, D.C., supporting the U.S. Justice Department's contention that the search giant unfairly leverages its market power to stifle competition, a charge that Google vehemently disputes. 

On this episode of the podcast, we reenact portions of Nadella's testimony, explain the positions staked out by Microsoft and Google in the case, and discuss the irony of Microsoft siding with the DOJ two decades after fighting its own antitrust battle against the agency. 

Read additional excerpts in this GeekWire Post: What Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in court about Google, Apple, search, and the future of AI

Plus, Generative AI and the "Ghost of Lesser Seattle." We revisit our attempt to channel the late, great Seattle newspaper columnist Emmett Watson with the help of ChatGPT, and assess the reaction.

With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook.

Related links and coverage:

• Testifying in Google trial, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns AI could extend search giant’s lead
• The Verge: Satya Nadella tells a court that Bing is worse than Google — and Apple could fix it
• Emmett Watson meets ChatGPT: What if the champion of ‘Lesser Seattle’ could see us now?
• Marketplace: There’s a corner of the internet where YouTubers read strangers’ obituaries. Why?

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