Articles about AI2

Seattle’s AI2 Incubator rebrands as AI House, and adds key investor as managing director

The incubator was founded in 2014 inside the Allen Institute for AI — the Seattle research institute created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen — long before artificial intelligence became a household term. Its mission has been to help founders with the early work of company building. Read More

Ai2’s Skylight project launches ‘Shippy,’ an AI agent that dives into ocean data

Seattle’s Allen Institute for AI has launched Shippy, a free AI agent built on its Skylight ocean-monitoring platform that answers maritime analysts’ plain-language questions using live vessel-tracking and satellite data. Read More

Allen Institute’s big new bet: $400M effort aims to go from mapping the brain to treating disease

The Allen Institute is launching a $400 million initiative, the Brain Health Accelerator, to develop gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and ALS. It marks the first time the Seattle research organization, founded by Paul Allen in 2003, has made treating disease its goal. Read More

CEO of Paul Allen’s $3.1B science and tech fund steps down less than a year after launch

Dr. Lynda Stuart is departing as the first CEO of the Fund for Science and Technology, the foundation created under late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s instructions. The change comes amid broader shifts in the Allen philanthropic ecosystem, including the departures of top AI researchers from the Allen Institute for AI. Read More

Microsoft adds more former Ai2 researchers, bolstering its Superintelligence team

At least 10 former Allen Institute for AI staffers and researchers have joined Microsoft’s Superintelligence team, including the core of the institute’s OLMo open-source model effort. The departures come amid a shift in Ai2’s funding toward applied uses of AI. Read More

Allen Institute for AI launches big computing cluster for $152M project backed by Nvidia and NSF

Ai2 says it has started using a new Nvidia-powered computing system funded through a $152 million NSF and Nvidia project to build open AI models for scientific research. The milestone comes as the Seattle nonprofit works to regain its footing after losing key researchers to Microsoft. Read More

Podcast

AI, fungi, and the future of enterprise tech: Industry vet Bill Hilf on his debut novel, ‘The Disruption’

A new sci-fi thriller from enterprise technology veteran and Ai2 board chair Bill Hilf imagines an AI built on living biology that escapes human control. Underneath the plot: an argument that the industry is thinking about AI the wrong way. Read More

Ai2 releases open-source web agent to rival closed systems from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic

The Allen Institute for AI is releasing MolmoWeb, an open-source web agent that navigates browsers by interpreting screenshots, offering a transparent alternative to closed systems from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. Read More

Microsoft hires former Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi and key researchers for Suleyman’s AI team

Microsoft is hiring former Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi, along with Hanna Hajishirzi and Ranjay Krishna from the Allen Institute for AI to join Mustafa Suleyman’s Superintelligence team, GeekWire has learned. Former Ai2 COO Sophie Lebrecht is also making the move. Read More

Allen Institute for AI CEO Ali Farhadi steps down as nonprofit navigates shifting AI landscape

Ali Farhadi is stepping down as the CEO of the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2), after a two-and-a-half-year tenure that brought growing recognition to the Seattle-based nonprofit research institute as a key player in the world of open source artificial intelligence. Read More

Ai2 cooks up open-source coding agents with tech equivalent of ‘hot plate and frying pan’

The Seattle nonprofit built its new open-source coding agent with 32 GPUs and five researchers, a fraction of the resources used by big tech companies. Read More

Ai2 CEO Ali Farhadi named to ‘AI Power List,’ with a nod to institute’s open-source focus

“From climate modeling to healthcare, Farhadi’s work influences how institutions scale AI for the benefit of humanity,” Business Insider said. Read More

Allen Institute for AI rivals Google, Meta and OpenAI with open-source AI vision model

Ai2 unveiled Molmo 2, a new open-source AI model that can analyze video with precision — tracking objects, counting events, and pinpointing exactly where and when things happen in a clip. The advanced vision system offers an open alternative to closed video models from Google, OpenAI, and others. Read More

Ai2 releases Olmo 3 open models, rivaling Meta, DeepSeek and others on performance and efficiency

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) unveiled Olmo 3, a new generation of open language models that it says outperforms rivals while using far less computing and offering more transparency. Read More

Ai2 loosens Big Tech’s grip on Earth insights with open-source AI models for climate and conservation

The Allen Institute for AI unveiled OlmoEarth, an open platform that uses artificial intelligence to track changes to the planet in near real time — from mapping mangroves and monitoring deforestation to improving wildfire prediction and prevention. Read More

Tech Moves: Yoodli, A-Alpha Bio, MoxiWorks add execs, TiE Seattle names president

Seattle startups Yoodli, A-Alpha Bio and MoxiWorks add to their C-suites, TiE Seattle names a president, and other Seattle-area tech moves. Read More

Tech Moves: Smartsheet names CISO; Amazon attorney retires; former Carbon CEO joins Stacklok

— Ravi Soin has joined Smartsheet as chief information security officer. Soin was previously at Edifecs, where he served on… Read More

Podcast

The Idea Man’s Last Big Idea: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in his own words

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: In light of his estate’s launch of the new $3.1 billion Fund for Science… Read More

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s final act: New $3.1B foundation bets big on science and tech

Even in the final years of his life, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was as excited as ever about what the… 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

Photos: Inside the Allen Institute for AI’s new HQ in Seattle’s first mass-timber office building

It was a big news week for Seattle’s Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2), including the announcement of a new… Read More

Allen Institute for AI lands $152M from Nvidia and NSF to lead national AI project

Is this the Allen Institute for AI’s breakout moment? The U.S. National Science Foundation and chip powerhouse Nvidia will provide… Read More

Ai2 unveils MolmoAct: Open-source robotics system reasons in 3D and adjusts on the fly

The Allen Institute for AI released a new AI robotics system that uses novel approaches to help robots navigate messy… Read More

Tech Moves: Protect AI founders get roles at Palo Alto; F5 board chair to retire; new Chainguard hires

— Two co-founders and former executives of Seattle-based Protect AI announced their new roles at Palo Alto Networks, the California… Read More

UW prof Dieter Fox leaves Nvidia to lead robotics initiative at Allen Institute for AI

Dieter Fox, the former head of Nvidia’s robotics research lab in Seattle, has joined the nonprofit Allen Institute for Artificial… Read More

Tech Moves: AWS leader goes to Siemens; Wash. names broadband lead; NuScale adds to C-suite

— Joseph Williams is temporarily taking the helm of the Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO) as it’s scrambling to respond… Read More

From ‘black box to glass box’: Ai2 links AI outputs to training data in breakthrough for transparency

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) released a new tool that links AI-generated text to training data, aiming to improve… Read More

GeekWire Awards: Finalists for AI Innovation of the Year are on the cutting edge of tech

From self-driving vehicles to detecting audio deepfakes to computer vision for warehouses — companies across the Pacific Northwest are using… Read More

Podcast

‘Open source will win’: Allen Institute for AI CEO Ali Farhadi on the new era of artificial intelligence

It has been a wild few weeks and an eventful few months in AI: DeepSeek, OpenAI, Stargate, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Salesforce,… Read More

Allen Institute for AI’s new open-source iOS AI app runs on-device for secure, private, offline use

The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) released its first on-device AI app Tuesday morning, leveraging a version of its open-source… Read More