GeekWire
GeekWire is a weekly technology news podcast produced by the Seattle-based tech news site GeekWire. Each episode covers the biggest stories, trends, and insights in the tech world, with commentary and analysis from the outlet's editors and reporters. The show also features interviews with special guests from the technology industry. Coverage often highlights the Pacific Northwest tech scene alongside broader national and global tech developments.
Episodes
White House vs. Microsoft, AI fighter jets, and a visit to a startup founder's Seattle recording studio
This week, we take the GeekWire Podcast to Front Burner Studios near Pike Place Market, where our host is studio co-owner Seth Paul, who's also co-founder and CEO of the Seattle security startup Qinsay. We discuss the White House crackdown on Microsoft’s green-card sponsorships, hours before President Trump honored Satya Nadella. We also talk about record Seattle startup funding and Shield A
Seattle and San Francisco: Big tech, political backlash and the AI boom
This week, GeekWire co-founder John Cook joins University of Washington historian Margaret O'Mara, author of "The Code," and San Francisco journalist Jonathan Weber, author of "City on the Edge," for a live joint taping with the Blue City Blues podcast at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle. With Blue City Blues hosts David Hyde and Sandeep Kaushik, they trace the rise of Microsoft and Amaz
Live show: Amazon, Meta and the fight over the future of AI; Plus, is Seattle still the place to build?
This week: Amazon is blocking Meta's new Muse AI assistant from shopping on Amazon.com, saying the agent doesn't identify itself and violates the site's conditions of use. We explain why the standoff is an early sign of a much bigger fight over whether AI agents can use websites and apps on people's behalf, and why Amazon has so much riding on the answer. For the definitive word on the issue,
AI meets real estate, with Zillow's engineering SVP Toby Roberts
On this week's show, recorded live at Atmosphere Seattle on the shores of Lake Union, Zillow Senior Vice President of Engineering Toby Roberts joins us to talk about what AI is doing to the business of buying and selling homes. The show was recorded in partnership with Real Estate At Work, the networking group hosted by Leka Devatha, a broker with Real Residential and founder of the redevelop
Study warns Seattle over-relies on Big Tech; Seattle Times v. Microsoft; Apple's iPhone Duo echoes the past
This week: A study commissioned by the City of Seattle warns that the city is not in decline but is in danger, finding that 10 companies, nine of them in tech, pay three-quarters of the payroll tax on large employers, and that the tax structure uniquely penalizes the hiring of senior, high-compensation workers. The report says Seattle should be most concerned about AI but most active in clean
NBA's Ballmer crackdown echoes Microsoft antitrust, SF vs. Seattle housing, and a Seahawks tech twist
This week: The NBA suspends former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a year and hits the Clippers with $30 million in fines and five lost draft picks over allegedly sham endorsement deals for Kawhi Leonard, drawing comparisons to the Microsoft antitrust era. A new Redfin report says San Francisco's housing market is booming on AI wealth while Seattle slumps, with the Bay Area-to-Seattle migration pi
Bill Gates in his own words: How he's using AI, and why he's worried about the future
This week: Bill Gates published a new essay warning that the AI industry is crossing the safety lines it set for itself, and that nobody is preparing for what's coming. At 70 years old, he also uses AI more than most people half his age, and he finds it enthralling, as you'll hear in highlights from our interview with Gates about the memo. Along the way this week, we dig into his three proposals:
Amazon's drones finally take off, inside Anduril's Seattle-area buildup, and an AirTag leads to a secret Amazon facility
This week: Amazon's Prime Air drones are finally going national, nearly 13 years after Jeff Bezos unveiled the idea on 60 Minutes. GeekWire's John Cook goes inside Anduril's unmarked Bellevue office as the defense company builds toward 1,000 Seattle-area engineers. Plus: a reporter hides an AirTag in a rare book and tracks it to a secret Amazon book-scanning facility in Las Vegas. With John Cook a
Bezos and Liverpool FC, a Meta vet's AI startup, Auger's Dallas move, and the demise of Microsoft's AI blob
This week: What should Liverpool FC fans expect from Jeff Bezos as a member of the storied club's new minority ownership group? We consult the Amazon leadership principles for the answer. Plus, a tip and an SEC filing lead to a scoop on a former Meta AI director's new startup, the GeekWire Editorial Board convenes to decide whether Dave Clark's Auger stays on the GeekWire 200 after moving its HQ t
Elon Musk's Starlink swagger, SpaceX vs. the cloud giants, and Seattle’s tech universe revisited
This week: SpaceX reports its first quarter as a public company, and Elon Musk says Starlink could deliver a majority of the world's internet within a decade, leveraging production facilities in Redmond. Musk also explains the company's data center ambitions, calling terrestrial infrastructure a trivial problem next to reusable rockets. Plus: we bring two Washington tech universe poster
Amazon's next big business, Satya Nadella's DIY app, and a VC's rallying cry for Seattle tech
This week: Microsoft and Amazon both reported quarterly numbers, and both stocks rose on cloud results that beat expectations. Is AI spending is paying off in real business? And in related news, Microsoft sees a rare annual headcount decline, hitting product R&D hardest. Plus: Satya Nadella builds a Power BI dashboard out of an analyst's research report, and touts it on the earnings cal
The greenest goodbye: Human composting and the science of becoming soil
On this special mid-week episode, we're sharing a remarkable installment of GeekWire’s new podcast, Positive Charge, which is all about finding slivers of hope in climate and sustainability. In their latest show, reporter Lisa Stiffler and producer Laura Scott find that hope in an unexpected place: an innovative alternative to traditional burial and cremation. It might not be the
What's going on with Seattle startup funding, a Kalshi setback, Impinj's long game, and a smartphone detox
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Seattle startup funding drops 40% in the first half of the year while AI money floods everywhere else. We dig into the numbers and the implications for the region. Plus: a Seattle judge deals Kalshi a setback, Impinj marks a decade on the Nasdaq after a 26-year climb, and nearly 40 Seattleites trade their smartphones for flip phones for five weeks. Related
Silicon Valley icon Vinod Khosla: What kind of Seattle Seahawks owner will he be?
This week: Silicon Valley legend Vinod Khosla's family is leading a group that's buying the Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.6 billion. We dug into hours of his talks and interviews to answer the big questions: Who is this guy, why does he want an NFL team, and what does his track record tell us about the kind of owner he'll be? Plus, the blind spot that could get him into trouble. Featu
Microsoft's reset, a new era for Seattle startups, and how AI is changing everything for founders
On this week's show, we're out on the GeekWire deck for our annual founder open house, where we dig into Microsoft's latest round of layoffs — including a major Xbox shakeup — and the surprising rise of hardware companies on the GeekWire 200. Then we sit down with four guests to talk about how AI is reshaping how they build: Jana Schuster of StackIQ, whose AI-native platform hel
Fusion energy: Wishing upon a star in a jar — Introducing 'Positive Charge' from GeekWire
This week on the show, we're sharing the debut of Positive Charge, a new GeekWire podcast from reporter Lisa Stiffler and producer Laura Scott about the innovations that could help save the planet. In this episode, they dig into the high-stakes race to harness the power of the sun and make fusion energy real, visiting two Seattle-area startups chasing this dream, and asking whether limitless
From the dot-com boom to AI security: F5 at 30, with CEO François Locoh-Donou
This week: F5 turns 30 years old this year, and the Seattle company has reinvented itself repeatedly to get here — starting, improbably, as a group of University of Washington students trying to build online video games. On this week's GeekWire Podcast, recorded on location at F5 Tower, the company's chairman, president and CEO François Locoh-Donou joins us to trace that journey, fr
Anthropic, Amazon, and the Fable shutdown; AI-powered school arrives; World Cup tech
Anthropic takes its most powerful models offline after a U.S. order, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly contributing to the concerns that helped trigger it. Todd and John dig into the Amazon-Anthropic dynamic, how agentic AI is upending Amazon's "working backwards" tradition, an AI-driven school arriving soon in the Seattle area, and the sensor-packed World Cup ball. With GeekWire co-founders J
Following through in Cleveland: A GeekWire trip report, plus data center ‘theater’ and the SpaceX IPO
In February, Seattle angel investor Charles Fitzgerald warned the region not to become the next Cleveland, prompting Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to join the podcast and make the case for his city's comeback. This week we close the loop: Fitzgerald and GeekWire co-founder John Cook call in from an abandoned Westinghouse factory in Cleveland, where days of meeting entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and O
Microsoft Build decoded: Solara, Scout, AI models, GitHub’s woes and more with Mary Jo Foley
Microsoft's Build conference was a firehose: in-house AI models, agent-first devices, new coding tools, and a Copilot "super app" that got teased but never shown. Todd Bishop and Mary Jo Foley sort through what's real and what's not quite fully baked, from Project Solara and the Scout agentic assistant to Microsoft's push for AI self-sufficiency and the mounting pressure on GitHub. Related Stories
Zuckerberg's yacht, Meta's layoffs, a robot pizza flameout, and a reality check on AI expenses
This week on the show: Mark Zuckerberg's superyacht arrives in Seattle the same day Meta discloses nearly 1,400 local layoffs, robot pizza startup Picnic flames out and sells to a mystery buyer, and corporate America confronts the rising cost of AI, including the leaderboard-gaming practice known as "tokenmaxxing." And we return to the theme of billionaire yachts for our trivia challenge. Wit
'Lean Startup' author Eric Ries calls for a shift to 'mission primacy' in new book 'Incorruptible'
On this special episode, Eric Ries, author of the 2011 bestseller "The Lean Startup," discusses his new book, "Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great." Ries explains why he's redefining profit as the maximization of human flourishing, reveals his role advising Anthropic's founders on their corporate structure, and makes the case that the era of shareholder prim
SpaceX IPO filing reveals Starlink's impact, Bezos sounds off on CNBC, and Gemini owes John a beer
This week on a supersized Memorial Day Weekend edition of the GeekWire Podcast: A massive IPO filing from SpaceX includes new details about Elon Musk's Starlink business and its satellite factory in Redmond. Jeff Bezos talks about wealth, inequality and eventually tech in an hour-long CNBC appearance. John goes to World Cup ticketing hell and turns to ChatGPT and Gemini when FIFA's support falls s
AI is not your strategy: Author and business advisor Brian Evergreen explains why vision comes first
Brian Evergreen worked in AI at Microsoft from 2016 to 2023, including a role helping Fortune 500 executives develop their AI strategies. He kept seeing the same pattern: most of those projects were failing. He set out to figure out why, and the answer became his book, Autonomous Transformation. In this live recording for GeekWire's Agents of Transformation series, presented by Accenture, Evergree
What we learned about Microsoft in the OpenAI trial, and is Seattle squandering its edge?
This week: As the Musk v. OpenAI trial heads to the jury, we dig into what Microsoft's internal board memos and executive testimony revealed about the origins of the company's massive bet on AI, and why this case matters beyond the billionaire drama. Plus, Howard Schultz, a former Washington governor, and the tech community weigh in on whether Seattle is squandering its edge as an innovation capit
Inside the 2026 GeekWire Awards: Innovators reshaping how we work, build, and learn
This week on the show: Conversations with finalists and special guests at the annual GeekWire Awards about AI, innovation, startups, and the forces reshaping their industries, plus a special trivia challenge marking GeekWire's 15th year hosting the event. Guests include: Luis Poggi, CEO of HouseWhisper AI, winner of CEO of the Year Tracy Drinkwater, founder of the Seattle Universal Math Muse
Elon takes the stand, Big Tech drops big numbers, and a small VC gets in on a billion-dollar deal
This week on the show: Todd reports from inside the Oakland federal courthouse where Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Microsoft, with jury selection revealing just how hard it is to find anyone neutral about Musk these days. Meanwhile, Microsoft and OpenAI restructured their partnership the same morning the trial began — and less than 24 hours later, OpenAI's models lande
AI, fungi, and the future of enterprise tech: Industry vet Bill Hilf on his debut novel 'The Disruption'
Bill Hilf has spent decades enterprise tech, open-source technologies, and AI, from IBM and Microsoft to running Paul Allen's portfolio as the CEO of Vulcan. He now chairs the Allen Institute for AI and American Prairie. His debut sci-fi novel, "The Disruption," imagines AI gone very wrong, and implicitly challenges the industry to think differently about how it's building our real future tod
Bonus: Microsoft's surprise retirement offer — breaking it down on KIRO Newsradio
Microsoft is offering a voluntary retirement program for the first time in its history, with thousands of U.S. employees eligible. GeekWire's Todd Bishop joins KIRO Newsradio hosts Angela Poe Russell and Mike Lewis to break down the details, what makes this so unusual in the tech industry, and what it says about the company's approach to managing costs in the AI era. See omnystudio.com/listen
The tough new realities for startups, Amazon's next big strategic bets, and Allbirds' crazy AI pivot
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, a week of Seattle-area startup news shows how the AI era is reshaping the regional tech scene. Q1 venture numbers reveal bigger checks going to fewer companies, with Seattle slipping behind the likes of Austin and Miami on deal volume. And yet the distributed nature of modern startups is complicating what it even means to be a regional tech hub. (Does a mailbox i
Riding the rails — over a floating bridge: GeekWire Podcast takes the train across the lake to Microsoft
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: we take the show on the road — or rather, on the rails — recording on Sound Transit's 2 Line as we ride the world's first light rail on a floating bridge from Seattle's Northgate neighborhood to Microsoft's campus in Redmond. Along the way, we talk tech news, chat with fellow passengers, and get a behind-the-scenes look at the engineering from Sound T
Rec Room shutdown, robot umps, FedEx meets Amazon, and OpenAI's odd media buy
This week: Rec Room, the Seattle-based social gaming platform once valued at $3.5 billion, is shutting down — and Snap is picking up some of the pieces. Todd talks about what it was like fielding calls from distraught users on the night of the announcement. John offers his thoughts on what the shutdown says about the VR hype cycle, and whether everyone betting on the AI boom should take note
GeekWire AI summit takeaways: Token budgets, watermelon metrics, and the $5k weekend coder
Fresh off the big GeekWire AI summit this week, Todd and John unpack what they heard from Microsoft EVP Charles Lamanna, OpenAI applications CTO Vijaye Raji, and other speakers at the Agents of Transformation event in Seattle, presented by Accenture. The big thread: the economics of AI, from token budgets becoming a hiring negotiation point to startups running on subsidized credits that may not la
Microsoft’s Copilot shakeup, Amazon’s new phone ambitions, and pushing Claude to the limits of LinkedIn
Amazon is working on a new smartphone, code-named "Transformer," more than a decade after the Fire Phone debacle, according to Reuters. We dig into the connection to a past GeekWire scoop: former Microsoft Xbox leader J Allard joined Amazon's devices team in 2024, and he's now leading a group called ZeroOne with a mandate to create "breakthrough" gadgets. Is this an AI-native device? A companion t
How AI is changing the business and art of video, from 'chaos machine' to creative catalyst
Brice Budke (President) and Zeek Earl (Executive Creative Director) run two Seattle studios: Shep, a video agency that works with tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft, and Packrat, a creative studio that specializes in miniature worlds, handmade sets, and retro creative projects. You might know Packrat's work from the epic and widely watched 2025 Seahawks schedule release video, which won
On location at OpenAI in Bellevue, with CTO of Applications Vijaye Raji
OpenAI just opened its largest office outside San Francisco, in downtown Bellevue, Wash. GeekWire was there on day one to tour the space. Chatting inside the OpenAI game room, we share our observations about the Mad Men-meets-Pacific Northwest aesthetic, which features open floor plans and lots of common areas, and try to figure out what it all says about OpenAI's culture. Plus, we talk with
Anthropic acquires Vercept, the AI job crisis scenario, and Microsoft's past Epstein connections
Anthropic acquired Seattle startup Vercept on Wednesday, raising familiar questions about the impact of early exits on the broader Seattle startup ecosystem, and the question of whether AI startups can compete long-term against the giants of the field. We dig into the deal, the public feud between two of the company's early investors on LinkedIn, and why one co-founder's prior departure to Meta ma
We tested Amazon's speedy delivery live on the podcast: Here's what it says about the future of retail
Amazon promises 30-minute delivery with its new Amazon Now service. We put it to the test — live on the show — with help from Michael Levin and Josh Lowitz, co-founders of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners and two of the sharpest Amazon watchers we know. While we wait for our order of yogurt, blueberries, and flossers (long story), Mike and Josh break down why Amazon closed its g
GeekWire Podcast, Live from Fremont: Seahawks, AI, and Seattle's Future
We're live this week in the "Center of the Universe" in Seattle for a special recording of the GeekWire Podcast, presented by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce at Fremont Brewing Co. Fresh off the Seahawks' Super Bowl victory, we debate some potential ownership groups for the Seahawks and Sonics — from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez to Costco's Jim Sinegal. (Who wouldn't want $1.50 hot dogs and
Cleveland's Mayor, Seattle's Future: What happens when a city's economy shifts
GeekWire brought Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Seattle tech veteran Charles Fitzgerald together on the phone Thursday after a guest column warning Seattle not to repeat Cleveland's past mistakes sparked a big response — including from Bibb himself. What followed was a constructive conversation about what cities should do when the economic ground shifts beneath them. Plus: a Seattle-to-Clev
Amazon's big bet, a 'MySpace for bots', and a conversation with AI veteran Oren Etzioni
Upcoming GeekWire Podcast Live Event: Join us from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb 12 at Fremont Brewing for a live recording of the GeekWire Podcast with Todd Bishop and John Cook. Free for Fremont Chamber members, $15 otherwise. Register here. This week on the show: Andy Jassy tells Wall Street that Amazon is planning $200 billion in capital expenses this year, mostly to build out AI infrast
GeekWire Field Trip: Starbucks rebounds, Microsoft slides, and Amazon resets
Upcoming GeekWire Podcast Live Event: Join us from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb 12 at Fremont Brewing for a live recording of the GeekWire Podcast with Todd Bishop and John Cook. Free for Fremont Chamber members, $15 for everyone else. Register here. This week on the show, Todd Bishop and Taylor Soper hit the road for a driving tour of the news, making stops at Starbucks, Microsoft, and an
Microsoft's private OpenAI emails and Satya Nadella’s new AI catchphrase
Newly unsealed court documents reveal the behind-the-scenes history of Microsoft and OpenAI · including a surprise: Amazon Web Services was the Silicon Valley AI lab's original partner. Plus, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella debuts a new AI catchphrase at Davos, startup CEO Dave Clark gets attention for his "wildly productive weekend," Elon Musk talks aliens, and the latest on phy
Amazon fixes Alexa voice ordering bug; Microsoft rethinks AI data centers; Stadium cameras capture every Seahawks fan
Someone listening to last week’s GeekWire Podcast caught something we missed: a misleading comment by Alexa during our voice ordering demo — illustrating the challenges of ordering by voice vs. screen. We followed up with Amazon, which says it has fixed the underlying bug. On this week’s show, we play the audio of the order again. Can you catch it? Plus, Microsoft announces
Alexa’s next act, Microsoft’s retail play, Google’s AI inbox, and a smart bird feeder fail
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon and Microsoft are racing to define the next era of consumer AI, on multiple fronts. We discuss Amazon's attempt to upgrade Alexa into a true generative AI home chatbot — complete with a new web portal and updated Alexa app — while Microsoft leverages its enterprise strength to win over retailers with a new Copilot Checkout feature. Plus, we exp
A silver lining for Seattle in the DJI ban, and the verdict on the 2007 Camry tech retrofit
The FCC delivered a massive shakeup to the drone industry right before the holidays, adding foreign-made drones (most notably from industry giant DJI) to its "Covered List" of national security threats. While the move effectively bans the sale of future DJI models in the U.S., GeekWire’s Todd Bishop and John Cook explore why this might be a golden economic opportunity for the Pacific Northwe
The stories that defined 2025: AI dreams, brutal realities, and Seattle tech at a turning point
Todd Bishop and John Cook reflect on the top tech stories of 2025, a pivotal year defined by the AI boom's dual nature: massive infrastructure spending alongside widespread layoffs. We discuss Bill Gates' framing of AI as "intelligence becoming free," the tension between tech workers and corporate mandates to adopt AI, and the "best of times, worst of times" dichotomy playing out at Microsoft, Ama
Landline phones in 2025? How this tech vet is helping kids connect
If you're looking for an uncommon thinker, how about a tech industry veteran developing and selling landline phones in 2025 — and selling out of them in the process. Chet Kittleson is the co-founder and CEO of Tin Can, a Seattle startup making Wi-Fi enabled landline phones designed to let kids talk to friends and family with just their voices. No screens, no AI. GeekWire recognized Kit
Uncommon Thinkers 2025: Solar spacecraft, sci-fi biology, destroying PFAS, beyond AI chatbots, and better social media
On this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast, recorded backstage at the GeekWire Gala at the Showbox Sodo, we sit down with five of the inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs selected as the Seattle region's 2025 Uncommon Thinkers, in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners. Jeff Thornburg spent years building rocket engines for Elon Musk at SpaceX and Paul Allen at Stratolaunch. Now, as CE
Bonus: Trevor Noah on AI, education, and the future of comedy
Trevor Noah speaks with GeekWire's Todd Bishop after Noah taught a 5th grade class at Ardmore Elementary in Bellevue, Wash., for Code.org's Hour of AI during Computer Science Education Week. The former Daily Show host, comedian, author, podcast host, and Microsoft "Chief Questions Officer" talks about learning AI alongside kids, the importance of maintaining unbridled curiosity, and how artificial
Amazon’s New Frontiers: Robotaxis, Ultrafast Deliveries, and AI Teammates
Amazon is experimenting again. This week, we dig into our scoop on Amazon Now, the company's new ultrafast delivery service. Plus, we recap the GeekWire team's ride in a Zoox robotaxi on the Las Vegas Strip during AWS re:Invent. And in our featured interview, from the show floor, AWS Senior Vice President Colleen Aubrey discusses Amazon's push into applied AI, why the company sees AI agents as "te
Finding signal in the AI noise, with ‘Me, Myself and AI’ host Sam Ransbotham
What's the real value in AI tools — and what separates those who use them well from those who don't? Sam Ransbotham, professor of business analytics at Boston College and host of the "Me, Myself and AI" podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review, compares notes with GeekWire Podcast host Todd Bishop in a two-part collaboration between the shows. On this episode, they discuss the new digital di
Bezos is back in startup mode, Amazon gets weird again, and the great old-car tech retrofit debate
This week: Jeff Bezos is back in startup mode (sort of) with Project Prometheus — a $6.2 billion AI-for-the-physical-world venture that instantly became one of the most talked-about new companies in tech. We dig into what his return to the CEO title really means, why the company’s location is still a mystery, and how this echoes the era when Bezos was regularly launching big bets from
An inside view of the AI boom, with Read AI's David Shim
This week: A glimpse of the AI frontier in workplace productivity through the eyes of David Shim — serial entrepreneur, Read AI co-founder and CEO, former Foursquare leader, and this year’s GeekWire Awards CEO of the Year. Shim spoke with GeekWire co-founder John Cook at a recent dinner event hosted in partnership with Accenture, in conjunction with our new Agents o
Seattle’s history of hardware heartbreak: Big raises, high hopes, hard landings
Seattle’s consumer-hardware ambitions are once again colliding with economic reality. The struggles of Glowforge and Rad Power Bikes echo a long regional history of big raises, high hopes, and hard landings — shaped by the pandemic, VC, and the unforgiving nature of building real products. GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook recorded this conversation for the purpose o
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff on failure, reinvention, and his second act at Amazon
What’s it like to pitch your dream on Shark Tank, get rejected on national TV in front of eight million people — and then turn that failure into a company Amazon later buys for more than a billion dollars. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff did just that. A serial inventor and entrepreneur, Siminoff joins us to talk about his new book, Ding Dong: How Ring Went from Shark Tank Reject to E
Seattle’s tech paradox: Amazon's layoffs and the AI boom — or is it a bubble?
Why is Amazon laying off 14,000 people during a massive AI boom? Todd and John analyze the Seattle tech paradox, digging into Andy Jassy's 'startup' reasoning and debating whether the AI frenzy is a bubble. Then, they take on the Cascadia high-speed rail: a necessary connector or a misguided project? Related headlines from the week Amazon layoffs Amazon confirms 14,000 job cuts, says push for &ls
The Great Rewiring: How the pandemic set the stage for AI — and what's next
From empty offices in 2020 to AI colleagues in 2025, the way we work has been completely rewired over the past five years. Our guest this week studies these shifts closely along with her colleagues at Microsoft. Colette Stallbaumer is the co-founder of Microsoft WorkLab, general manager of Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the author of the new book, WorkLab: Five years that shook the business world, and
The next PC platform shift? Ed Bott on Microsoft's big Windows AI bet
Veteran technology journalist Ed Bott has "seen things," after more than 30 years of covering Microsoft and the PC industry, and he recognizes a pattern in the company's latest AI features for Windows. It's part of a high-stakes effort to avoid missing the next big platform shift — attempting to avoid what happened to the company in the mobile revolution. Ed joins the GeekWire Podcast to ana
Vibe-coding a new reality: Chris Pirillo on the rise of AI-powered apps, features, and founders
Chris Pirillo, the longtime tech enthusiast and entrepreneur, joins the show this week to discuss how AI software development tools are opening up new possibilities for everyday users, as illustrated by his own experience going from commentator to creator, building nearly 100 apps and games. He’s launching a free, in-person event series called CTRL+ALT+CREATE Live, where anyone can buil
The Agentic Entrepreneur: How the next wave of AI is changing the startup playbook
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: How artificial intelligence is changing the way companies are created, built, and operated. We're on location at Pioneer Square Labs in Seattle with investor and entrepreneur T.A. McCann, a managing director at the startup studio and venture capital firm. He explains how AI agents are automating complex functions, letting small teams do the work that once require
A $100k wall for talent: Tech leader and author Shirish Nadkarni on the H-1B fee and the impact of immigrants
The U.S. tech and startup community was stunned by an executive order last week imposing a $100,000 fee for employers seeking new H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers, a program heavily used by the technology industry. This move brings a longstanding debate back to the forefront: are skilled immigrants taking American jobs, or are they a vital engine for innovation and economic growt
When AI becomes the creative director: Amazon VP Jay Richman on the future of media and ads
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: How artificial intelligence is reshaping media and advertising, and what it says about the future of the creative process. Our guest is Jay Richman, an Amazon vice president of product and technology who leads the technology team developing AI tools used by sellers and brands to create and deploy ads across Amazon's platforms. His career has tracked the evolution
Using AI to Upgrade Your Personal OS: Insights from Executive Coach Mark Briggs
This week: Executive coach and AI strategist Mark Briggs explains why your "personal operating system" needs an upgrade, and how to use AI to get more time back in your day. He shares practical tips for turning scattered notes into a powerful knowledge base and discusses how AI can act as a collaborator to fight procrastination and provide instant feedback. Plus, we play a game of "Bot
OpenAI's big Seattle deal; Steve Ballmer under NBA scrutiny; the irony in Google's antitrust case
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his NBA team, the Clippers, face scrutiny over an alleged salary-cap dodge tied to star Kawhi Leonard. We unpack the report and Ballmer’s emphatic denial, while reflecting on his history in tech and sports. Also: OpenAI's surprise $1.1 billion acquisition of Seattle startup Statsig, and what it says about the AI
The Idea Man's Last Big Idea: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in his own words
In light of his estate's launch of the new $3.1 billion Fund for Science and Technology, we revisit a classic 2011 interview with the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to explore the "Idea Man" mindset that continues to shape his legacy. The conversation reveals the personal motivations behind his "big bet" philanthropy, his candid thoughts on his partnership with Bill Gates, and his passion fo
Booms, Busts, and Seattle in the AI Era, with Jeff Shulman of the UW Foster School
What does Seattle gain — and lose — in times of dramatic change? University of Washington Foster School of Business marketing professor Jeff Shulman has spent years studying that question, as host of the Seattle Growth Podcast, director of the Product Management Center, and a civic voice on issues ranging from housing affordability to the campaign to bring back the Sonics. On this
Building an AI-first company: What these two business leaders learned from top experts in the field
Our guests this week: Adam Brotman and Andy Sack, co-authors of the book AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand. Brotman was Starbucks’ chief digital officer and later co-CEO of J.Crew. Sack is a founder, investor, and longtime advisor to tech leaders. Together, they run Forum3, a company that helps brands rethink loyalty and customer engagement. For their book, t
Coding is dead, computer science is not: UW’s Ed Lazowska on AI, retirement, and why he’s not done yet
Longtime University of Washington computer science professor Ed Lazowska — newly retired at 75 after nearly a half-century on the faculty — joins us to discuss the evolution of computer science, how AI is changing what and how students learn, why specialization is rising, the role of universities in Seattle’s tech economy, and what he plans to tackle next across teaching, advisin
Is this 'peak AI'? Microsoft, Amazon, and a pivotal week for Seattle tech
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Microsoft soars past Wall Street expectations, briefly hitting a $4 trillion valuation, while Amazon faces sharper scrutiny over its AI strategy. Todd Bishop and John Cook break down the contrasting earnings results, analyst reactions, and what it all means for the future of AI — and Seattle's place in it. Plus: insights from Microsoft's Mustafa Suleyman on
From Microsoft to Qualtrics: Brad Anderson on AI's business and personal impact
Our guest this week is Brad Anderson — a tech engineering and product leader who spent more than 17 years at Microsoft and is now approaching 5 years at Qualtrics, the experience management technology company, where he’s president of products, user experience, engineering, and security. I’ve known Brad for a while, in fact I’ve been on two of his shows back when he was
How Companies Are Really Using AI, with AWS VP Francessca Vasquez
How are companies really using AI? And is it truly working? AWS Vice President Francessca Vasquez joins the GeekWire Podcast to talk about what companies are actually doing with AI today, and what's holding them back. We discuss real-world deployments, lessons from AWS customers across industries, and the challenges and opportunities in scaling generative and agentic AI. Related Stories and Links:
Amazon, Google, Meta, and the AI long game, with Baird's Colin Sebastian
On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we’re joined by Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at Baird and one of the most respected voices in tech and internet investing. We dive into how Amazon, Google, and Meta are positioning themselves in the AI era — from Amazon’s Alexa+ and infrastructure strategy, to Google’s balancing act between search and generative chatbots,
Managing in the Age of AI, with former Microsoft leader, executive coach, and author Sabina Nawaz
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Executive coach and former Microsoft leader Sabina Nawaz talks about her book, You’re the Boss: Become the Manager You Want to Be (and Others Need) — and why she believes pressure, not power, is what truly corrupts leaders. We discuss the thinning layer of middle management, how AI tools are changing the landscape, and why many younger worke
The front lines of creativity: Journalist and educator Hanson Hosein on AI and the art of solo storytelling
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, our guest is Hanson Hosein — an Emmy Award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and communication strategist who has spent his career making sense of the world in times of change. His latest project is American Dignity, a short documentary that follows the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement from Seattle to Selma to Washington D.C., and considers what those lesso
Amazon, Microsoft, and the new realities of AI at work
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we discuss how AI is transforming our local tech giants, changing the fundamental nature of work, and blurring the lines between human and machine. We dive into the memo that has Amazon employees either signing up for AI training or updating their resumes; unpack why you're answering emails at 10 p.m.; and explain how one of us ended up quizzing his dentist's off
Inside the Microsoft protests: Fired engineer on Palestine, Israel, AI, and big tech
A message from GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop: This episode of the GeekWire Podcast is unlike any we’ve done before. It touches on some of the most contentious and disputed issues in the tech industry, and in the world more broadly. It started with my curiosity and desire to understand something that happened in March, at GeekWire’s independent Microsoft @ 50 event. I was o
15 years of the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon, Microsoft, and the transformation of Seattle tech
Fifteen years ago, Steve Jobs and Apple had just introduced the first iPad, Steve Ballmer’s Microsoft had been left for dead, and nerdy online bookseller Jeff Bezos was still getting Amazon settled into its South Lake Union HQ. That’s when we started this podcast. This week, we’re going back to 2010, revisiting clips from the earliest days of the show. We remember what was h
Microsoft, Remitly, and the new shape of work — plus Amazon’s NYT AI deal
This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we discuss Amazon's new licensing deal with The New York Times for AI content training, and go behind the scenes at two different office spaces: Microsoft's redeveloped Redmond campus and Remitly's new Seattle HQ. Amazon inks deal with New York Times to license newspaper’s content for AI platforms Rebooting Redmond: Microsoft’s new campus reflects
Did Elon Really Intern at Microsoft? Plus: AI, Jobs, and the Economy
Satya Nadella’s offhand remark at Build, about Elon Musk once interning at Microsoft, sparked a mystery that sent us digging through biographies and transcripts in search of confirmation. We also break down Microsoft’s new AI moves, announced this week at the company's Build developer conference, and consider what its agentic ambitions mean for tech jobs and the economy. Plus, a sharp
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