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Not just for coders: Inside UW’s plans for a campus-wide AI minor

Plus: AWS unveils new AI agents; Solius releases at-home light-therapy device; startup raises $46M to take on migraines


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TODAY'S TOP STORIES

AI goes to college: The University of Washington is building an interdisciplinary AI minor open to students in every major. The effort is co-led by computer scientist Magda Balazinska (above) and anthropologist Ben Marwick. Set to launch in spring 2027, it will challenge students to grapple with the ethics, limits and potential of AI, and apply it to their own fields of study. Read more.

New AWS agents: Amazon Web Services unveiled a new set of AI agents, capable of everything from fixing security vulnerabilities to triaging email. The company is threading a needle: trying to maximize AI autonomy while ultimately keeping developers and business users in control of what the AI does on its own. Read more.

Selling sunshine from Seattle: Solius Labs raised $23 million and launched Solius Pro, a UVB (Ultraviolet B) light therapy device that brings the treatment into the home. Founded in 2013, Bainbridge Island, Wash.-based Solius originally developed large walk-in light therapy kiosks that were deployed in clinical settings and pharmacies. Read more.

Biotech heavy-hitters emerge from stealth: Vedana Therapeutics, a Seattle-based startup aiming to prevent migraine attacks, raised $46 million behind a leadership team experienced in cutting-edge treatment. The new funding will allow the company to advance antibody therapies targeting migraine-related signaling pathways. Read more.

Hot Links:

  • As Waymo tests its driverless taxis — still with drivers — in the Seattle area, the company is running into regulatory roadblocks in other big cities. (NYT)

  • OpenAI and Anthropic have collectively hired nearly 90 Salesforce employees this year, mostly in sales and marketing roles, reflecting the scale of their efforts to build their bases of business customers. (The Information)

  • A “small-scale” data center is being considered for the Starbucks HQ building in Seattle in a space formerly occupied by an Amazon Fresh pickup site. (Seattle Times)

  • Amazon plans to invest $10 billion in a data center campus in mid-Missouri that the company says will create an estimated 400 direct jobs. (FOX 2)

  • Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp. is looking to raise up to $287.5 million as it plans to spin out its immune medicine business. (PSBJ)

Thanks for subscribing, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, [email protected]; reporter Kurt Schlosser, [email protected]; and reporter Lisa Stiffler, [email protected].
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