Author: Benjamin Clarke
(Philips Picture) Philips Ultrasound is shedding 33 workers from its Bothell, Wash., facility, which serves as a hub for the engineering and manufacturing of ultrasound tools and different healthcare gadgets. The cuts have been disclosed in a brand new submitting from the Washington Employment Safety Division and can take impact Dec. 31. The layoff is a results of “the relocation and/or contracting out of firm operations and/or workers’ positions,” in response to the submitting. Manufacturing operators, warehouse operators, and technicians have been affected by the cuts. GeekWire has reached out to Philips for extra particulars. The Netherlands-based firm has round…
OlmoEarth Studio, the Allen Institute for AI’s new workspace for constructing and fine-tuning environmental AI fashions. The interface lets customers select base maps, tag areas, and handle area information for initiatives corresponding to wildfire gasoline monitoring. (Ai2 Screenshot) A brand new platform from the Allen Institute for AI guarantees to ship insights into the state of the planet, in close to real-time, by giving organizations with out deep AI experience the power to watch deforestation, assess crop well being, and predict wildfire danger, amongst different capabilities. OlmoEarth, introduced Tuesday by the Seattle-based nonprofit AI institute, is an open, end-to-end system…
Marissa Coughlin and Constantine Vetoshev, house owners of Swoon Metropolis, a brand new romance bookstore in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. (GeekWire Picture / Kurt Schlosser) When Marissa Coughlin left her newest tech job to open a romance bookstore and crafting hub in Seattle, she didn’t go away know-how behind fully. In actual fact, alongside her associate, Constantine Vetoshev, who nonetheless works in tech, synthetic intelligence has grow to be a significant participant on this subsequent chapter of their lives. Coughlin labored in a wide range of communications and content material roles for firms together with Airbnb, Textio, Highspot, and most not…
Seattle Metropolis Corridor in downtown Seattle. (GeekWire Picture / Kurt Schlosser) The Metropolis of Seattle is interviewing candidates for a Metropolis AI Officer place to steer how synthetic intelligence is utilized throughout departments and places of work. The brand new job is in keeping with the town’s recent release of a “responsible AI plan,” which gives tips for Seattle’s use of synthetic intelligence and its assist of the AI tech sector as an financial driver. Rob Lloyd, chief know-how officer for the Metropolis of Seattle. (Picture courtesy of Rob Llloyd) The CAIO will report back to Rob Lloyd, the town’s…
This analysis compares ACA Market prices to employer-sponsored medical health insurance prices and finds that particular person market premiums have turn out to be extra just like employer-sponsored premiums since 2017. In 2024, particular person market insurance coverage premiums averaged $540 per member monthly, barely under the common $587 per member monthly premium for fully-insured employer protection. The evaluation makes use of knowledge from Mark Farrah Associates Well being Protection Portal to check common premiums within the particular person and group insurance coverage markets. The information relies on insurer filings to NAIC within the Annual Exhibit of Premiums and Utilization,…
Inside Microsoft’s HQ in Redmond, Wash. (GeekWire Photograph / Taylor Soper) Microsoft announced further investments within the United Arab Emirates because it seems to develop its knowledge heart footprint and capitalize on export licenses. The Redmond, Wash.-based tech large has already spent $7.3 billion since 2023, together with a $1.5 billion fairness stake in Abu Dhabi–based mostly G42, the nation’s sovereign AI firm. Microsoft mentioned Monday it plans to speculate one other $7.9 billion from 2026 to 2029. The funding covers AI and cloud infrastructure, workforce coaching, and new governance initiatives. “This isn’t cash raised within the UAE. It’s cash we’re spending within the…
Picture through Amazon. ChatGPT maker OpenAI, exercising newfound freedom below its renegotiated Microsoft partnership, will broaden its cloud footprint for coaching and operating AI fashions to Amazon’s infrastructure below a brand new seven-year, $38 billion settlement. The deal, announced Monday, positions Amazon as a significant infrastructure supplier for Microsoft’s flagship AI companion, highlighting seemingly insatiable demand for computing energy and more and more complicated alliances amongst huge firms looking for to capitalize on AI. It comes as Microsoft, Amazon, and massive tech firms try and reassure buyers who’ve grown involved a few doable bubble in AI spending and infrastructure funding.…
Introduction This report supplies an evaluation of donor authorities funding for household planning in low- and middle-income international locations in 2024, the newest 12 months accessible, in addition to developments over time. It consists of each bilateral funding from donor governments and their contributions to the United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA). It’s a part of an effort by KFF to trace such funding that started after the London Summit on Household Planning in 2012. General, donor authorities funding for household planning decreased in 2024 and was one of many lowest ranges of funding for the reason that London Summit. Findings…
Chris DeVore, founding managing companion at Founder’s Co-op, on the GeekWire Summit in 2022. (GeekWire File Picture / Dan DeLong) Seattle enterprise agency Founders’ Co-op unveiled its sixth fund — $50 million, matching the dimensions of its earlier fund — to again one other batch of early-stage tech startups. Chris DeVore, founding managing companion at Founders’ Co-op, stated about 80–90% of investments will go to Pacific Northwest founders, sometimes on the pre-product or pre-revenue stage. Based in 2008, Founders’ Co-op was an early backer of billion-dollar firms comparable to Remitly, Outreach, and Auth0. The agency is sticking to its core…
The Provn staff, from left: Taylor Brazelton, Ravi Mohan, Forrest Corbett, Kate Hill, Nikesh (Niki) Parekh, and David Tarico. (Provn Picture) Job candidates are gaming applicant-tracking methods, and recruiters are struggling to sift via mounds of AI-generated resumes. In the meantime, massive tech corporations are chopping jobs — but nonetheless scrambling to rent folks with AI expertise. Enter Provn. The brand new Seattle startup, led by longtime entrepreneur Nikesh Parekh, needs corporations to scrap the standard resume and change it with portfolios of actual work and challenge-based assessments. Provn’s software program facilitates “AI challenges” — for instance, constructing an AI agent or…