The guardian angel of groceries: A startling statistic — 40% of U.S. food is spoiled or tossed — sent neuroscience researcher
Katherine Sizov
on a new path.
- Troubled by supply chains that treat living produce like tech products, she now leads Seattle-based
Strella
, an ag-tech startup that uses sensor-based hardware to monitor produce as it’s shipped and stored en route to consumers. - “The whole point of why I think I’m alive is to hopefully do something good for society,” Sizov said.
- Read our first Sustainability Spotlight, a new series profiling individuals who are impacting the future of our planet by turning visionary climate tech concepts into real-world solutions.
From
Ai2
to
Microsoft
: Former Ai2 CEO
Ali Farhadi
and several key researchers from the Allen Institute for AI are heading to Microsoft’s Superintelligence team. Ai2 interim CEO
Peter Clark
said the institute’s mission and partnerships remain intact, including its $152 million initiative with the NSF and
NVIDIA
. But the departures come amid a broader shift in Ai2’s funding priorities toward applied uses of AI rather than frontier model development. Read more.
- In a new post on LinkedIn, Farhadi called it an “opportunity to work on something that goes beyond what a frontier lab can do alone.”
Meanwhile, Ai2 released MolmoWeb, its own open-source web agent that navigates browsers, a transparent alternative to closed agentic systems from
OpenAI
,
Google
, and
Anthropic
. Read more.
Ten startup leaders pitched their ideas, which covered everything from mental health and fintech to R&D infrastructure and online fraud prevention, at the Seattle AI Startup Showcase, hosted by
B.E.L.L.E
(Boundless, Entrepreneurship, Liberty, Liaison, Empowerment), a nonprofit focused on connecting early-stage founders with investors. Read more.
The opening of the Link light rail Crosslake Connection on Saturday will include events from Seattle to the Eastside, with Microsoft,
Lime
and others getting in on the celebration.
- Drone delivery startup
Zipline
— a Techstars Seattle alum — raised $200 million to fuel its rapid expansion into new markets, including Seattle. (TechCrunch) - OpenAI’s latest regulatory filings highlight growing business risks, including its heavy reliance on Microsoft’s infrastructure and the intensifying legal pressure from Elon Musk and
xAI
. (CNBC) - Gov. Ferguson signed a bill banning the use of noncompete agreements in Washington state, expanding on previous legislation. (Governor’s Office; Fenwick)
- Finland is delaying a plan to move its election platform to
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
. (Bloomberg)
Nintendo
is reportedly cutting production of the Switch 2. (Polygon)- A new report on public relations finds that “earned media is now the trust currency of the AI era.” (Delight Labs)
Whatcom Community College
in Bellingham, Wash., will offer its first bachelor of science degree in computer science beginning in the fall. (WCC)- Microsoft and Nvidia launched an “AI for nuclear” collaboration to accelerate permitting and design and to improve operations for nuclear power plants. (Microsoft)
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