This could get awkward: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was reportedly among the tech leaders who raised security concerns about Anthropic's newest AI models to Trump administration officials, before a government order forced the AI lab to take the models offline. The twist: Amazon has invested $13 billion in Anthropic, with billions more planned.
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Coffee town, meet your matcha: Luke Larson wants to build a beverage empire in Seattle — kind of like Starbucks, but with ancient Japanese green tea powder as the focus. The former president of Axon, which makes tools and technology for law enforcement, is leaning into automation to help scale Vale, the startup he’s building from a Pioneer Square HQ. Read more.
AI taking 911 calls: The Seattle Fire Department has been quietly using artificial intelligence to triage and divert certain 911 medical calls for more than two years without public knowledge or regulatory oversight, according to a new report from The Seattle Times. Read more.
A clear-eyed view on AI: Google chief scientist and University of Washington alum Jeff Dean returned to the Allen School commencement to tell graduates that AI may be able to draft code and summarize data, but can't replace their judgment, ethics, or sense of what's worth building. His balanced message drew cheers — not the boos that pro-AI speeches have met at graduations around the country this spring. Read more.
Farming out content production: The current consumer backlash against AI-generated content mirrors the historical resistance to GMO foods, argues AI researcher and entrepreneur Oren Etzioni. In his latest “Etzioni on AI” column, he predicts that economic efficiency and indistinguishable quality will eventually lead to widespread public acceptance. Read more.
Sex, kids and life in space: Beyond the mechanics of in-space sex, researchers are more concerned about what happens next and the risk of pregnancy and fetal development in an environment beyond Earth. Despite sci-fi-style visions, panelists at Thinkspace Seattle don’t think there is much hope for humanity on the moon or Mars. Read more.
Calling all startup founders: GeekWire is hosting an exclusive event for Seattle area founders and CEOs on June 23. It's a great opportunity to meet other tech leaders, connect with the GeekWire team and celebrate Seattle's epic World Cup summer. Interested? Contact GeekWire co-founder John Cook at [email protected] for more details.
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The debate over data centers continues to heat up, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) reportedly sending letters to four large AI infrastructure providers, including private equity firm KKR which just last week spun out a new AI data center startup called Helix Digital Infrastructure led by former AWS and Tableau CEO Adam Selipsky. (Axios)
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Speaking of data centers, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker cited the Microsoft-backed restart of the Three Mile Island nuclear facility in Pennsylvania as a sign of how far states are going to meet the soaring energy demands of AI data centers. “My guess is that’s going to be a reasonably unpopular thing to have done,” he said. (Scott Galloway’s Prof. G Markets Podcast, minute 22).
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warns that the AI “frontier” will collapse without a broad ecosystem, arguing that companies must own their own human‑plus‑AI learning loops or risk having their expertise commoditized by a few dominant models. (X)
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The Ballmer Group is committing up to $1.5B in forgivable loans to build 10,000 affordable, family‑sized rentals across Washington state, cutting rents by roughly $750 a month and locking in affordability for 60 years. (Washington State Standard)
Thanks for subscribing, and have a great week. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, [email protected]; reporter Kurt Schlosser, [email protected]; and reporter Lisa Stiffler, [email protected].
