GeekWire

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 or Not" to see if you can tell the difference between a human and an AI assistant, and learn how better productivity can lead to achieving personal goals. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 talent wars. Plus, the ironic role of Microsoft’s own antitrust past in the landmark ruling against Google’s search monopoly this week. Seattle journalist, radio host and bar owner Mike Lewis joins GeekWire's Todd Bishop for this episode, which also features a highlight from a segment with KUOW's Kim Malcolm.  Related Stories OpenAI acquires Statsig for $1.1B, names CEO to key role in surprise exit for Seattle-area unicorn ‘Absurd’: Steve Ballmer responds to report that Clippers funneled money to star player via endorsement deal Pablo Torre details his investigation on "Pablo Torre Finds Out." ESPN's Ramona Shelburne interviews Steve Ballmer. Google antitrust ruling gives Microsoft a shaky bridge over search giant’s competitive moat KUOW: Is the Google antitrust ruling a ‘big whiff,’ or an advantage for rivals like Microsoft?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 for everything from brain science to jamming with rock stars. Related stories and links:  Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s final act: New $3.1B foundation bets big on science and tech In an age of billionaire backlash, Paul Allen’s lasting legacy stands out in Seattle With GeekWire's Todd Bishop and Kurt Schlosser.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Shulman joins us to talk about Seattle’s place in the global AI boom, why the city has struggled to produce superstar startups, what AI means for marketing and education, and how civic identity, tech and sports have fueled the region. RELATED STORIES Seattle is a global AI hub — but where are the superstar startups? Despite status as a global tech hub, Seattle passengers still can’t hail a driverless ride Ken Griffey Jr. Wants Role in Bringing Seattle Sonics Back Seattle Now Podcast: Casual Friday with Todd Bishop and Jeff Shulman Also check out the Seattle Growth Podcast and "On the Brink" documentary.  With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; Edited by Curt Milton    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, they interviewed experts including Bill Gates, Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman and Ethan Mollick, and spent time with companies that have had early success with AI implementation. We talk about their "holy sh*t" moment with Sam Altman, how Moderna achieved 80% employee participation through AI contests, the CEO who supercharged sales by using AI to analyze call transcripts, and what leaders should actually be doing to roll out AI within their organizations. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, advising, and policy. Read more on GeekWire. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 the future of Copilot, a throwback lesson from the Zune era, and a guestbook entry that shows just how mainstream ChatGPT has become.  Related stories and links Microsoft plans record $30B in quarterly capital spending Microsoft cut product R&D jobs, added operations roles over the past year Microsoft beats expectations, says Azure revenue tops $75B annually Internal memo: Nadella urges long-term thinking as Azure marks 15 years Microsoft reaches $4 trillion valuation after big earnings report Amazon Web Services profits squeezed amid AI spending surge Amazon tops Q2 estimates with $167.7B in revenue, $18.2B in profits Can Seattle own the AI era? 20 investors and founders weigh the potential From Startup to Exit: Microsoft@50: Birth of Xbox, with Chief Xbox Officer, Robbie Bach Colin & Samir Podcast with Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman Tim Ferriss Podcast with Expedia and Zillow co-founder Rich BartonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 an enterprise mobility and cloud technology leader at Microsoft, and it was all the rage for executives to have their own video shows.  There was “Lunch Break with Brad Anderson,” where he drove his guests around the streets of Redmond in his Tesla, introducing me to "Insane Mode" at the time. And there was “The Ship Room,” where he talked about the cloud and played games with guests, challenging me to distinguish real startup names from fake ones.  For this week’s show, I went to the Qualtrics Tower in downtown Seattle to talk with Brad about how he thinks about building tech today — how AI is starting to change the way products come together, and how expectations are shifting for both the people using the tools and the people building them. I also turn the tables on Brad in the final segment with a game about cloud and AI terms called "Real or Ridiculous" — stick around to play along. But first, he reminded me about the random case of mistaken identity that brought us together in the first place, back in the day. Listen to the show to hear the story, and see the related post on GeekWire to read highlights. — GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop Edited by Curt Milton.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 gives $100M boost to AWS Generative AI Innovation Center, betting on agentic AI Gartner: Over 40% of Agentic AI Projects Will Be Canceled by End of 2027 AWS News Blog: Top announcements of the AWS Summit in New York, 2025 Amazon cuts hundreds of AWS cloud jobs after strategic review, says AI wasn’t the main factor Meta snags Seattle startup co-founder for Zuckerberg’s elite superintelligence team With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, to Meta’s AI talent push. Colin also shares his take on the broader investment climate, how he separates hype from lasting value, and how AI is reshaping his own research process. Plus, we get his outlook on the next wave in gaming, the signals he’s watching in the data, and how today’s AI boom compares to the dot-com era that marked the start of his career. See these research disclosures for Colin Sebastian and Baird. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 workers no longer aspire to lead. Sabina shares actionable strategies from the book, including Micro Habits, the power of Blank Space, and how managers can stop micromanaging and start serving as the “container, not the content.” She also reflects on her time advising Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer — including a memorable moment involving an umlaut — and explains why getting promoted might be the riskiest moment in your career. Topics Covered: Why pressure is more dangerous than power Managing when the middle layer disappears The double-edged sword of AI-powered management Tools: Micro Habits, the Yes List, Blank Space Communication fault lines and “sage speak” Leadership lessons from Gates and Ballmer How to lead without burning out With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; edited by Curt Milton.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 lessons mean for America today. He started out as an NBC News correspondent, reporting from conflict zones in the Middle East and the Balkans. Later, he founded the Communication Leadership program at the University of Washington and became an early voice for digital storytelling, using technology to find new ways of reaching audiences. We visit his self-contained studio on the former site of a chicken coop, and talk about how he made this film as a one-person operation, what he learned along the way, and where he thinks media is headed. We also dig into how AI is changing the creative process and what it takes to tell meaningful stories in this new world. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 office assistant (or was it an AI chatbot?) about whether he or she (or it?) was human. Then we ask the new Alexa+ what it (she?) thinks about the exchange.  Related stories Andy Jassy’s long game: Amazon’s reinvention enters its 5th phase as AI upends the workforce Amazon CEO: AI will shrink corporate workforce in coming years The ‘infinite workday’ is here — and Microsoft says AI will make it worse if we’re not careful With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 on stage interviewing Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith when the conversation was interrupted by a protester.  The group behind the protest, called No Azure for Apartheid, represents current and former Microsoft employees who want the company to end its cloud computing and AI contracts with the Israeli military. They cite concerns over how they believe their work is being used by Israel. Addressing the larger issues raised by the group, Microsoft said in a May 15 post that it conducted internal and external reviews and “found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people in the conflict in Gaza.”  After covering Microsoft’s statements and the group’s response — and seeing the continued protests unfold at Microsoft events — I decided to dig deeper and learn more.  As part of that, I invited one of the organizers of No Azure for Apartheid to join me on this podcast, for a conversation about the motivations behind the group, their views on Microsoft’s responsibilities, and how the tech industry intersects with international conflicts.  Our guest is software engineer Hossam Nasr, who was fired by Microsoft last year related to protests on the Microsoft campus. In fact, he was the first to protest inside the GeekWire event. What followed was a complex conversation — one that at times went beyond Microsoft’s role into broader political and ethical criticisms of Israel’s actions in Gaza.  These are deeply polarizing issues, and we know there are strong, divergent opinions about them. I’ve added context conveying Microsoft’s responses, and noting areas where statements and characterizations about Israel, Palestine, and Gaza are the subject of dispute.  The conversation includes detailed descriptions of the ongoing conflict in Gaza and some historical comparisons that some listeners may find disturbing or offensive. And lastly, we recorded this conversation in late May, before the latest developments in the Middle East. Related Links:  Microsoft: Statement on the Issues Relating to Technology Services in Israel and Gaza Associated Press: As Israel uses US-made AI models in war, concerns arise about tech’s role in who lives and who dies AP: Microsoft fires employees who organized vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza +972: Leaked documents expose deep ties between Israeli army and Microsoft The Verge: Microsoft blocks emails that contain ‘Palestine’ after employee protests Guardian: Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war Editing by Curt Milton. Read more at GeekWire.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 happening with Amazon, Microsoft, and Seattle’s startup scene, and try to wrap our heads around all the things that have changed since then. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Audio editing by Curt Milton.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 ongoing transformation, uncertain future A world away in the heart of Seattle: Remitly’s new HQ provides more room to collaborate — and grow With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop and reporter Kurt Schlosser. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 warning from Microsoft President Brad Smith on Washington state’s fading focus on innovation. RELATED STORIES Elon and Satya, together again: Microsoft brings Musk’s xAI models to Azure, despite OpenAI feud Microsoft expands AI roster with Anthropic and xAI integrations, looking beyond OpenAI alliance Businessweek: Microsoft’s CEO on How AI Will Remake Every Company, Including His Washington state cuts back economic development program amid criticism of innovation approach ‘We better wake up’: Microsoft’s Brad Smith sounds alarm as state enacts controversial tax plan Washington governor approves new business taxes, acknowledges potential ‘unintended consequences’ With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited by Curt Milton.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Box CEO and co-founder Aaron Levie joins the GeekWire Podcast to talk about the company’s latest AI initiatives, including a new integration with Microsoft 365 Copilot and a suite of Box AI agents designed to help businesses analyze content, extract data, and generate insights.  Levie shares how AI is changing the way he and his team work, explains why he believes 2025 is still “day one” for enterprise AI agents, and offers a realistic take on what AI can — and can’t — do today. He also reflects on Box’s evolution, the shifting role of content in the enterprise, and why he thinks AI is creating more work, not less. RELATED LINKS GeekWire: Box tightens Microsoft ties with new Copilot integration, builds out its own suite of AI agents Aaron Levie: How AI is changing my work as CEO at Box With GeekWire co-founder Todd BishopSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: The rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence takes center stage in business technology spending, in Washington D.C., and in the global tech power struggle. We break down a headline-grabbing U.S. Senate hearing on AI and U.S.–China competitiveness, featuring testimony from Microsoft’s Brad Smith and OpenAI’s Sam Altman. There was also a fun Seattle tech callback in the form of a hot-mic moment from Sen. Maria Cantwell during Sen. Ted Cruz's opening statement. Plus, we dive into a new global survey from Amazon Web Services showing just how quickly companies are making generative AI their top tech priority — even ahead of cybersecurity. U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation: Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: ChatGPT will ‘probably not’ replace Google as top search engine Previously: Microsoft asks Trump to loosen chip export limits Bloomberg: Trump plans to rescind AI chip export curbs Amazon Web Services Generative AI Adoption Index Generative AI tops cybersecurity in 2025 tech budget priorities, new AWS study finds With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recorded live at the 2025 GeekWire Awards in Seattle, this episode features industry leaders navigating a shifting tech and political landscape. Amid celebrations of AI breakthroughs, startup milestones, and community-building, guests discuss deeper concerns: capital flight, regulatory headwinds, and what the region needs to retain its innovation edge. Featured on the show: Ambika Singh, founder and CEO of Armoire (Workplace of the Year winner) Joseph Williams, Washington State Department of Commerce (Public Policy Champion for Innovation) Emer Dooley, Creative Destruction Lab, University of Washington (Geeks Give Back honoree) Laura Ruderman, CEO of the Technology Alliance Aviel Ginzburg, co-founder at Foundations (Geeks Give Back honoree) Anand Subbaraj, CEO of Zuper (CEO of the Year finalist) Related coverage:  GeekWire Awards 2025 revealed: Community ‘alive and well’ at annual celebration of best in tech Photos: Inside the GeekWire Awards, where it was ‘game on’ for a night of networking and more Presented by Astound Business Solutions, with category sponsors BECU, Baker Tilly, JLL, WTIA, Alltech, Wilson Sonsini, and First Tech. With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.