Articles from 2026

New report offers Washington state a way out of its quantum conundrum

A report from the Washington Technology Industry Association, the Northwest Quantum Nexus and the state Department of Commerce finds that Washington has the country’s deepest bench of quantum technology assets but has captured almost none of the federal money funding the industry. It lays out five recommendations for closing the gap. Read More

Seahawks buyer Vinod Khosla punts back to team management when it comes to Lumen Field turf talk

When asked directly whether he’d swap Lumen Field’s artificial turf for real grass, the billionaire venture capitalist made it clear he intends to leave groundskeeping decisions to the team’s front office. Read More

Ex-Meta AI research director raises $10.25M from Trilogy and Madrona for stealth physical AI startup

Kevin Carlberg, who led AI research teams at Meta focused on wearable computing, has raised $10.25 million for Noosphere Labs, a stealth startup working on what it calls “human-centered physical intelligence.” Trilogy Equity Partners led the round, with major participation from Madrona. Read More

Amazon expands Locker package pickup to more than 750 U.S. college locations

The expanded footprint — part of Amazon’s broader network of more than 25,000 delivery hubs nationwide — is designed to integrate directly into students’ daily routines without adding additional costs. Read More

Kalshi brings in former U.S. solicitor general as Washington state gambling case escalates

Kalshi is still operating in Washington nearly three weeks after a Seattle judge granted the state a preliminary injunction against the prediction market platform. The New York-based company has since appealed to the Washington Court of Appeals and brought in former U.S. Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal for its defense in a case with national implications. Read More

Washington state is way down the list in another ranking of the best places to live

WalletHub’s 2026 “Best States to Live In” list puts Washington at No. 33 with an overall score of 49.70 based on five key categories: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life, and safety. Read More

Self-flying air taxis and drones: Boeing sells key aviation technology businesses to Archer

Boeing is selling Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu to Archer in a major deal combining autonomous aircraft, drones, airspace technology and AI. Read More

Tech Moves: Amazon VP leaves for Lime; MicroVision and Slalom name execs; Microsoft departures

Former Amazon VP Hannah McClellan Richards is now COO of Lime; MicroVision, Slalom and Gravyty add to their C-suites; Microsoft leaders depart for Crusoe and Gartner. Read More

Mark Zuckerberg makes waves again, sparring on a barge and charting a course for the future of AI

Man vs. machine might be the rallying cry of our future with AI, but for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the fight is here now — in more ways than one. Read More

Gates Foundation gives $540 million to UW health institute, the largest gift in university history

The Gates Foundation is giving $540.2 million over 10 years to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the largest charitable gift in UW history. The grant will expand the institute’s Global Burden of Disease study and comes as global health funding falls sharply. Read More

Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Aug. 2, 2026

See the technology stories that people were reading on GeekWire for the week of Aug. 2, 2026. Read More

Podcast

Elon Musk’s Starlink swagger, SpaceX vs. the cloud giants, and Seattle’s tech universe revisited

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. Also on the GeekWire Podcast: two Washington tech universe posters, 17 years apart, and a timely question about Google’s first office. Read More

Seattle AI Film Festival returns with 200 films that try to change your mind about AI cinema

As debates around AI and creativity continue, the Seattle AI Film Festival is betting on a more collaborative future. The event brings together filmmakers, technologists, and creators to explore how generative AI can expand creative possibilities while keeping human storytelling and artistic vision at the center. Read More

Jimothy raids the corporate pantry: Amazon adds extra $200K to food bank gift after raccoon art auction

A friendly challenge sparked by a portrait of Jimothy, Seattle’s favorite short-spined raccoon, drew in regional heavyweights, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Alaska Airlines and others. Read More

This is way mo’ fun: Baby blue Waymo ‘Ojai’ spotted in Seattle, adding to robotaxi test fleet

GeekWire spotted a boxy baby blue Ojai in the parking lot of a Fred Meyer store in the Ballard neighborhood on Friday morning. Read More

As Washington state’s AI task force winds down, the debate over how much to regulate is far from settled

Washington’s AI task force wrapped up two years of work with the state’s first AI laws on the books and its broader recommendations stalled in the Legislature. At a panel marking the end of the effort, consumer and labor advocates pushed for stronger rules while AI startups warned about the cost of complying. Read More

Etzioni on AI: Murphy’s Law of AI

Oren Etzioni writes that the AI break-ins disclosed over the past three weeks by OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and the UK’s AI Security Institute were entirely predictable. He argues that better alignment won’t prevent the next one, and makes the case for bounding what an agent can touch instead. Read More

Startup Spotlight: HitchPiggy wants to turn empty car seats into a new rideshare marketplace

Portland startup HitchPiggy is building a marketplace that connects drivers already traveling between cities with passengers headed the same way, using AI-powered development to tackle affordable regional ridesharing across the Pacific Northwest. Read More

Salesforce cutting 59 jobs across Seattle and Bellevue offices

Affected positions include software engineers, product management directors, incident commanders, technical support engineers, and leadership roles across marketing and sustainability. Read More

Microsoft 2.5: How EVP Charles Lamanna is helping turn Microsoft into the ‘Copilot company’

Charles Lamanna, who leads Microsoft’s Copilot, agents, and platform work, is helping build the coming Copilot Super App — a single front door meant to unify the company’s sprawling AI products. He talks with Mary Jo Foley about the plan, the “Copilot Palooza” it’s meant to fix, and why Microsoft wants to be “the Copilot company.” Read More

This startup just raised $6M for an AI tutor that helps kids figure it out themselves

Wild Zebra raised $6 million to expand an AI learning platform for math and reading that asks students questions rather than just giving them answers. The company says it now reaches tens of thousands of students in grades 2 through 9. Read More

Zillow revenue climbs 18% but layoff costs push company to a loss, amid executive changes

Zillow Group’s second-quarter revenue rose 18% to $772 million, but a $36 million restructuring charge from this week’s layoffs pushed the company to a $4 million net loss. Zillow also expanded CFO Jeremy Hofmann’s role to include chief operating officer and hired a Google litigation executive as its first chief legal and policy officer. Read More

Disaster hits home: How Amazon and other companies are responding to Washington state wildfires

Amazon’s Disaster Relief team is sending emergency supplies; Boeing is donating $250,000; F5 is supporting employees; and other efforts are responding to the devastation in Spokane, Wash. Read More

Google to cut 52 employees in Washington state

Google is laying off 52 employees in Washington state, according to a state filing. The job cuts include software engineers, engineering and product managers, mechatronics engineers, UX designers and recruiters located in Kirkland, Redmond and Seattle offices as well as remote employees. Read More

The startup idea that convinced a UW computer science legend to leave Google after 27 years

Jeff Dean, who earned his computer science Ph.D. at the University of Washington, is leaving Google after 27 years and taking three of the company’s top AI researchers with him. Their startup, Discovery Loop, aims to automate the scientific method itself, and Google is helping fund it. Read More

Washington state’s next-gen ferry era kicks off with 3 new hybrid boats in $1.15B deal

Washington state’s aging ferry fleet is getting a climate-friendly makeover as construction begins on new hybrid-electric vessels. A Florida shipyard is under contract to deliver three 160-vehicle ferries at a total price tag of $1.15 billion. The first plug-in vessel should be completed in 2030.
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Live dating show reveals Seattle’s relationship with tech is still complicated

Allison Goldberg, comedian and host of “Love Isn’t Blind,” says that when she introduces a contestant who is a software engineer, the audience boos. Read More

Zillow layoffs hit 91 jobs in Washington state, with senior roles bearing the brunt

A WARN notice filed with Washington state shows Zillow Group is cutting 91 jobs in its home state, a fraction of the more than 500 layoffs announced this week. The list of affected positions is dominated by directors, principals and senior managers. Read More

He, it, but rarely she: When AI models write kids’ stories about animals, female characters vanish

A new University of Washington study testing leading AI models across nearly 24,000 story completions found that AI guardrails designed to reduce bias have accidentally erased female characters — defaulting overwhelmingly to male animals or ungendered “it” pronouns. Read More

What’s working in climate tech (and what’s not): 4 big ideas from a rooftop full of investors and founders

Investors and founders at a Pacific Northwest Climate Week happy hour named the technologies drawing too much money and the ones showing real promise. Hear from them on new episode of GeekWire’s Positive Charge podcast. Read More