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AI agents

The rise of vertical AI agents — and the startups racing to build them

For this installment in our Agents of Transformation series, GeekWire examined the rising trend of vertical AI agents — tools built to do one job exceptionally well by combining models with domain-specific data, workflows, and context. Read More

Seattle startup Certiv launches with $4.2M to build endpoint security layer for AI agents

Seattle startup Certiv emerged from stealth with $4.2 million in funding to build security software that monitors and controls AI agents on employee computers. The company is led by serial entrepreneur Jason Needham, whose previous startups were acquired by Apple and VMware. Read More

Judge blocks Perplexity’s AI bot from shopping on Amazon in early test of agentic commerce

A federal judge sided with Amazon in its lawsuit over Perplexity’s Comet browser, granting a preliminary injunction in an early legal test of AI-powered shopping tools. Read More

Anthropic acquires Vercept in early exit for one of Seattle’s standout AI startups

Anthropic is acquiring Seattle AI startup Vercept, folding its desktop “computer use” technology and team into Claude as the race to build AI agents that can operate software intensifies. Vercept will shut down its Vy application as part of the deal. Read More

Head of Amazon’s AGI lab is leaving in latest exit from high-profile Adept startup deal

David Luan, who led Amazon’s AGI Lab and its Nova Act AI agent initiative, is leaving less than two years after joining through the Adept acqui-hire deal. Four of five Adept co-founders have now left the company. Read More

GeekWire’s AI summit to feature key leaders from Amazon, Microsoft, and more, on March 24 in Seattle

GeekWire announces the first wave of speakers for its Agents of Transformation summit on March 24 in Seattle, including leaders from AWS, Microsoft, Outreach, and AI startup Vercept. Read More

Agents, OpenAI, deepfakes, and the messy reality of the AI boom: A conversation with Oren Etzioni

Computer scientist and entrepreneur Oren Etzioni shares his unvarnished take on AI agents, the platform race, OpenAI, deepfakes, and what good AI leadership looks like, during a conversation at an Accenture-hosted event in Bellevue. Read More

Satya Nadella’s new metaphor for the AI Age: We are becoming ‘managers of infinite minds’

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella riffed on some famous lines from tech leaders past this week in an appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and offered up his own trippy candidate to join the canon of computing metaphors.  Read More

GeekWire’s new AI summit will explore how agents are transforming business and work

We’re excited to announce a new GeekWire event for 2026: “Agents of Transformation: Inside the AI Shift.” This half-day summit… Read More

Microsoft debuts Copilot Checkout, joining AI shopping race vs. Amazon, Google and OpenAI

Microsoft is rolling out a new “Copilot Checkout” feature that lets shoppers complete purchases directly inside its AI chatbot, betting that its enterprise ties and retailer relationships can help it compete with OpenAI, Google and Amazon in the race toward AI-driven commerce. Read More

How Microsoft is betting on AI agents in Windows, dusting off a winning playbook from the past

Microsoft is pushing AI agents deep into Windows, reviving a platform strategy that once made the PC operating system dominant. The question is whether that approach can still work in a world defined by phones, browsers, and the cloud. Read More

Microsoft CTO to AI startups: Stop waiting for better models and ‘do the damned experiments’

Kevin Scott says today’s AI tools are already powerful enough to most startup surprise founders. But extracting their value requires unglamorous product work, real customer feedback, and a willingness to experiment. Read More

Podcast

Uncommon Thinkers: Hope for the future from our 2025 honorees

Recorded backstage at the GeekWire Gala, this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast spotlights the 2025 Uncommon Thinkers — innovators working on space, biology, AI, environmental cleanup, and the future of social media. Read More

AI goes from tool to teammate: Amazon Web Services SVP Colleen Aubrey on the dawn of agentic work

AI “teammates,” faster product development, and a pivot in Amazon’s applied-AI strategy: AWS SVP Colleen Aubrey joins the GeekWire Podcast to explain how agentic systems are reshaping how Amazon builds software. Read More

Podcast

Amazon’s new frontiers: Robotaxis, ultrafast deliveries, AI teammates

Amazon is experimenting again. This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we break down our scoop on Amazon’s new ultrafast delivery service, ride along in a Zoox robotaxi on the Las Vegas Strip, and talk with AWS SVP Colleen Aubrey about Amazon’s push into applied AI and the rise of AI “teammates.” Read More

Does your AI have an ID? Microsoft looks to document the digital workforce with new ‘Agent 365’

Microsoft is shifting toward “per-agent” computing, unveiling Agent 365 and new tools at Ignite that let companies manage and secure autonomous AI agents like employees. Read More

Podcast

Real revenue, actual value, and a little froth: Read AI CEO David Shim on the emerging AI economy

Read AI CEO David Shim talks with GeekWire’s John Cook about the realities of the AI boom — solid fundamentals with some froth at the edges, rising demand for AI assistants, the growing value of cross-team intelligence and multi-platform tools, and the potentially controversial emergence of digital work twins. Read More

Inside Microsoft’s new ‘Experience Center One’: What we learned at the edge of the AI frontier

In the glowing demo rooms of Microsoft’s new Experience Center One, the company is making a high-stakes pitch for the potential of AI agents — attempting to get businesses on board with its vision of the future. Read More

Podcast

The Great Rewiring: How the pandemic set the stage for AI — and what’s next

The pandemic and rise of AI are part of one continuous transformation in the way we work, and it’s not over yet, says Microsoft’s Colette Stallbaumer, author of the new book “WorkLab: Five years that shook the business world, and sparked an AI-first future.” Read More

The new AI executive assistants: Smarter, faster, still not as good as the real thing

A new generation of AI executive assistants is taking on tasks like scheduling, travel, and email — but they’re still far from matching human judgment. GeekWire’s new Agents of Transformation series explores where the technology truly stands. Read More

Podcast

The Agentic Entrepreneur: How the next wave of AI is changing the startup playbook

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, T.A. McCann of Pioneer Square Labs explains how AI agents are changing company creation, why distribution and data now matter more than product, and what agent-to-agent interactions mean for the future of business. Read More

Amazon’s ‘model factory’ is training the next generation of AI on the tech giant’s own business

Amazon’s top AI scientist Rohit Prasad outlined a “model factory” approach and shift toward AI agents at Madrona’s IA Summit in Seattle. The strategy uses Amazon’s own internal systems as reinforcement learning gyms to accelerate the development of its Nova models and enterprise AI tools. Read More

Paid, a new AI agent billing startup led by Manny Medina, raises $21M seed from Lightspeed, FUSE, others

Manny Medina, co-founder and former CEO of Seattle sales company Outreach, is off and running on his new startup adventure… Read More

Microsoft adds Anthropic’s Claude AI models to 365 Copilot as OpenAI relationship evolves

Microsoft is adding Anthropic’s Claude models to Microsoft 365 Copilot, giving business users a choice beyond OpenAI’s GPT technology. The rollout starts with the Researcher agent and Copilot Studio, reflecting Microsoft’s broader push to work with multiple AI providers. Read More

Amazon links Nova Act, its AI agent creator, to VS Code, Cursor and Kiro

Amazon introduced a Nova Act extension that brings its AI agent toolkit directly into code editors such as Visual Studio Code, Cursor, and Kiro, aiming to speed development and cut down on context-switching. Read More

AI sidekick for scientists: Ai2 aims to spark big discoveries with Asta open-source agent platform

Yes, ChatGPT can draft a tricky email. But can a general-purpose AI assistant for the masses contribute to a big… Read More

Podcast

How AI is changing the way companies listen and build products, with Brad Anderson of Qualtrics

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, my guest is Brad Anderson — a former Microsoft corporate vice president who spent… Read More

Seattle startup Klutch raises $8M to bring AI coworkers to construction sites

Archie handles zoning and permit reviews. Bob captures site data from texts and photos. Petra manages vendor scoring. Hailey helps… Read More

Podcast

Podcast: Amazon, Microsoft, and the new realities of AI at work

Amazon just told its workers that AI is coming for their jobs. Microsoft says we’re trapped in an “infinite workday.”… Read More

The ‘infinite workday’ is here — and Microsoft says AI will make it worse if we’re not careful

AI could accelerate burnout and chaos at work unless companies fundamentally change how they manage time and priorities, Microsoft warns… Read More

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