Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is among a group of 22 representatives that are part of a new Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board organized by the Department of Homeland Security. Other members include top leaders from tech, such as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky from Seattle. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are also on the board. Harrell is the only U.S. mayor included. The members will advise the U.S. government on how to deploy AI safely within U.S. critical infrastructure. “Artificial Intelligence is a transformative te ..read more

(GeekWire File Photo) Amazon is making another big move into the sports world with a reported deal in place with the NBA to stream games for at least a decade. The Athletic reported Friday that Amazon and the NBA have the “framework for a deal” that would begin in the 2025-26 season. The deal would be a huge addition to Amazon’s growing sports streaming catalog, which already includes the NFL’s Thursday Night Football and live action from several other leagues and teams. This week Amazon announced that Prime subscribers will get access to Seattle Kraken games as part of a new deal with the NHL ..read more

Dave Parker (LinkedIn Photo) Veteran entrepreneur and startup advisor Dave Parker is taking over as CEO at global networking group Entrepreneurs’ Organization. Parker has been around startups for nearly three decades as a founder, investor, and mentor for various companies. He was a leader at Startup Weekend and Code Fellows, and led the Founder Cohort program for the Washington Technology Industry Association. Founded in 1987, EO’s community includes nearly 19,000 members across 83 countries and 222 chapters. EO aims to connect founders and business owners at various stages of their entrepren ..read more

Doxo co-founders Steve Shivers, left, and Roger Parks, pictured in a company photo from 2011. A lawsuit by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleges that Seattle-based bill payment company Doxo has repeatedly deceived consumers into thinking it’s an official channel for the companies they’re seeking to pay, adding unwanted fees and using web design tricks to get them to sign up for unwanted subscriptions. The company, founded in 2008 and backed by investors including Jeff Bezos, categorically denied the allegations, saying it’s “committed to taking the necessary steps to comply with all regula ..read more

(GeekWire File Photo / Nat Levy) Microsoft posted its latest earnings report on Thursday, which was broadly speaking good news for the company. For its embattled Xbox department, however, there are mixed signals. This is the second quarterly report from Microsoft that included the effects of its record-setting acquisition of the formerly independent game developer Activision Blizzard King. Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% and gaming revenue as a whole grow 51%, both of which were primarily credited to Activision. At the same time, Xbox hardware revenue declined by 31%, and the repor ..read more

Clean aviation company ZeroAvia hosted a ribbon cutting on Wednesday at its new manufacturing facility in Everett, Wash., which was attended by a slate of Washington leaders. From left: U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, ZeroAvia CEO and founder Val Miftakhov, Gov. Jay Inslee, and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene. (ZeroAvia / Joe Nicholson Photo) Clean aviation company ZeroAvia this week celebrated a new 136,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Everett, Wash., and announced it will be selling components of its hydrogen-electric airplane engines to other commercial companies. The company is based in California ..read more

Satya Nadella leaves the stage at Microsoft’s Build developer conference in May 2019. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Satya Nadella has devoted a portion of Microsoft’s past earnings calls to touting the revenue growth in the company’s security technology business. Today the Microsoft CEO took a different approach, talking instead about the Secure Future Initiative that the company launched last fall to improve its cybersecurity safeguards. “We are doubling down on this very important work, putting security above all else — before all other features and investments,” Nadella said Thursday ..read more

Dropzone AI, a Seattle-based startup that uses artificial intelligence to help companies boost their Security Operations Centers (SOC), raised a $16.8 million Series A round. Dropzone’s pre-trained AI security agents use large language models and work alongside human security analysts, handling repetitive tasks and investigating alerts. The agents mimic the thought process and techniques of expert security analysts. Dropzone is led by CEO and founder Edward Wu, who previously spent eight years at Seattle-based security company ExtraHop. Theory Ventures led the round. Other backers includ ..read more

A Microsoft sign on the company’s redeveloped headquarters campus in Redmond, with renovation work ongoing in the background. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) Microsoft posted a 17% increase in revenue, to $61.9 billion, with $21.9 billion in profits, up 20%, and earnings of $2.94 per share, beating Wall Street’s expectations across the board for the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal year. Investors will be listening closely to Microsoft’s conference call, starting at 2:30 p.m. Pacific, for indications about the impact of artificial intelligence on the company’s results, as a barometer for the br ..read more

Portland Seed Fund’s Angela Jackson (left) and Steve Eichenlaub will manage the new Intrepid Oregon Fund, which will invest in climate and other tech startups from the state. (Portland Seed Fund Photo) Portland Seed Fund managers announced the launch of the Intrepid Oregon Fund, which has $4 million to invest in early-stage startups working on climate tech as well as healthcare, medical devices, advanced manufacturing and natural resource innovation. Business Oregon, the state government’s economic development agency, provided anchor funding for the initiative and additional investors have ple ..read more