This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we're joined by a University of Washington professor whose Twitter account was abruptly suspended last week for reasons that seemed inexplicable at the time. The story is a glimpse into the erratic, arbitrary, and divided state of social media, communications, and modern economics.

We also get a reality check on the new era of artificial intelligence, including the ongoing tendency of OpenAI's ChatGPT to generate facts out of thin air.

And in the final segment, we hear why the late David Bowie was right all along about the "exhilarating and terrifying" future in which the rest of us our now living.

Our guest is Kathy Gill, a tech veteran who is an adjunct professor at the University of Washington and Bellevue College, focusing on communications and user experience. Her current courses include a writing class for UW engineering students. She's a writer, motorcyclist, and self-described news hound. Follow her @kegill or @kathygill, and read her work at wiredpen.com.

Related links and resources

• TechDirt: Twitter Suspends User For Sharing Washington Post Story About Pentagon Docs Leaker
• WiredPen: Yes, ChatGPT can answer questions. Can you trust it? Nope
• Conducting research: a guide for undergrads, by Kathy Gill
• Watch the full interview with David Bowie from the BBC in 1999, as resurfaced by Michael Warburton this week.

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Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's annual letter to shareholders this week delivered a dual message: while the company might not be done streamlining its operations, it's also not scaling back its ambitions for future growth.

Jassy outlined the company's strategy to expand further into generative artificial intelligence, healthcare, satellite broadband and other sectors, even as he hinted that the company might continue to cut costs in other areas.

He also made it clear the company isn’t backing down from its push to get employees back in the office for at least three days a week starting in May.

GeekWire's Todd Bishop and John Cook share some of their key takeaways from Jassy's shareholder letter and talk about the future of the tech giant on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast. Audio editing and production by Curt Milton.

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Humans have become increasingly vulnerable to technology engineered to grab our attention, pulling us away from more meaningful and fulfilling moments and interactions in our lives. Can technology itself be part of the solution? Our guest this week on the GeekWire Podcast is Caroline Cadwell, co-founder and CEO of Unpluq, a recent graduate of the Techstars Seattle accelerator program. The startup offers an app, subscription service, and keychain tag designed to help people become more conscious and mindful about their use of smartphones, social media, and other addictive apps and services.

Related links:

Seattle Public Schools sues TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and others, seeking compensation for youth mental health crisis

Rational Overrides: Influence Behavior Beyond Nudging — research that helped to inspire Unpluq's approach.

digital.com/founders-story">Could You Live Without a Smartphone? — TedX talk by Anastasia Dedyukhina of  digital.com/">Consciously Digital, who is referenced by Caroline Cadwell on the episode.

Our favorite startup pitches from Techstars Seattle Demo Day

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we're joined by Ali Partovi, a technology investor, entrepreneur, and mentor who is the CEO of Neo, a startup accelerator, mentorship community, and venture firm.

Neo's accelerator this week announced a new AI track, working in collaboration with OpenAI and Microsoft to help startups build businesses on newly emerging artificial intelligence capabilities.

Partovi, who grew up in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, sold his startup LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1998, was an early investor in companies including Airbnb, Dropbox, Facebook, and Uber, and 10 years ago co-founded Code.org with his twin brother Hadi Partovi, who continues to lead the computer science education nonprofit.

On this episode, Ali Partovi discusses the role that AI will play in the startups, Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI, his experience at Microsoft reporting to a young Satya Nadella as his manager, Neo's approach to identifying and supporting a diverse group of technical and entrepreneurial leaders, the backdrop for the Silicon Valley Bank meltdown, and more.

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast ...

We catch up on the latest on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, and consider the long-term implications of the meltdown on the startup ecosystem and the U.S. financial system.

Then, a point-counterpoint on the issue of the return to office, as Downtown Seattle Association President Jon Scholes laments the "affliction" of remote work, and Zillow Group CEO Rich Barton says the ways we work (and the places we work) have changed forever.

And finally, we catch up on the latest in the world of generative artificial intelligence, listening to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's pitch for the company's new Microsoft 365 Copilot. We consider the potential of AI to change the way we work, the competition between Microsoft and Google, and touch briefly on antitrust issues.

With GeekWire co-founders John Cook and Todd Bishop.

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Startups and investors cheered the U.S. government's promise this weekend to fully protect deposits after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. But the move left many unresolved questions and challenges for the U.S. financial system and the tech industry.

Our guests on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast discuss their recent experiences and offer their informed opinions on what could come next. Speaking with GeekWire co-founder John Cook are: Kirby Winfield, founding general partner of Seattle venture capital firm Ascend; and Aviel Ginzburg, general partner at Seattle VC firm Founders’ Co-op.

They both reflect on what happened last week, explaining how they and their portfolio companies navigated the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

But most of the discussion focuses on how things could play out from here — including Ginzburg's concerns about the likely impact on venture debt due to the loss of Silicon Valley Bank, and Winfield's more optimistic hypothesis about the potential for recent events to set the stage for a venture capital rebound later this year.

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This week, we go behind the scenes of Hype Aviation, a news aggregation site that you might think of as Techmeme for aviation, space and defense news. Our guests are Robin Koenig, who started the site, and Isaac Alexander, a Seattle-area aviation geek who serves as its chief content officer.

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; edited and produced by Curt Milton.

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What was previously a point of pride on Silicon Valley Bank's website now reads like a warning sign: nearly half of U.S. venture-backed technology and life sciences companies bank with the financial institution. Financial regulators on Friday morning shut down Silicon Valley Bank and put it in the hands of the FDIC, a jaw-dropping move that has created a crisis for startup founders and their financial backers.

Based in Santa Clara, Calif., Silicon Valley Bank has long been a key player in the Seattle region. GeekWire's reporting suggests that the percentage of tech startups in the Seattle area that used Silicon Valley Bank was even higher than the national average, upwards of 80% or more of the venture-backed companies in the area.

GeekWire co-founder John Cook, who started covering startups and venture capital before the dot-com bust, calls this an "absolute meltdown," the likes of which he hasn't seen before on the startup beat. On this special episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we talk about what caused the situation, what it says about the state of the tech economy, and what could be next for those impacted by the shutdown.

Related coverage: 

• Tech startup leaders concerned about making payroll following Silicon Valley Bank meltdown
• Regulators close Silicon Valley Bank in stunning downfall for financial mainstay of tech industry
• Seattle VC firms tell startups to assess positions with Silicon Valley Bank amid funding concerns

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The workplace and the job market are a volatile mix of variables these days, including the economy, tech layoffs, inflation, pay transparency, remote work, and a push by some companies to bring employees back to the office. So how are all of these changes impacting pay and perks? Our guest this week is Lexi Clarke, chief people officer at Payscale, the Seattle-based compensation software and data company, which just came out with its 2023 Compensation Best Practices Report. 

With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop; edited and produced by Curt Milton; Theme music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell. 

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast: What happened when Microsoft's new Bing AI search chatbot was called upon to help report a story for a small-town community newspaper. Plus, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's back-to-office plan draws opposition from the company's employees and support from Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell. And Jeff Bezos appears serious about buying an NFL team.

With GeekWire's Todd Bishop and Kurt Schlosser.

Stories and topics discussed on this week's show.

• Report: Jeff Bezos using investment firm to explore bid for NFL’s Washington Commanders
• Seattle mayor praises Amazon’s back-to-office policy in ‘State of the City’ address
• Wall Street Journal: Amazon Corporate Workers Face Pay Reduction After Shares Slip
• Amazon changes back-to-office policy, tells corporate workers to come in 3 days a week

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