Microsoft weighs $10B investment in ChatGPT maker OpenAI

Microsoft is reportedly in negotiations for a $10 billion investment in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence powerhouse behind the breakthrough ChatGPT technology. Microsoft could end up owning as much as 49% in OpenAI, further deepening their partnership. 

• The talks, reported by Semafor and confirmed by Bloomberg, come as Microsoft eyes new integrations of OpenAI technology into Bing and Office, seeking to differentiate its traditional products from rivals, according to The Information. 

• "Microsoft has said this kind of technology could go to any industry," said journalist Mary Jo Foley, editor-in-chief at DirectionsOnMicrosoft.com, on the GeekWire Podcast.

• Microsoft’s investment of $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 is turning into a signature deal for CEO Satya Nadella, pictured above with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the time.

One of the defining features of Amazon.com is going beyond the virtual walls of the company's own e-commerce site.

• Third-party merchants and direct-to-consumer brands will get the ability to display Amazon customer ratings and reviews of their products on their own e-commerce sites for the first time under an expansion of Amazon’s “Buy with Prime” program.

Seattle startups continue adjusting headcount amid uncertain economic conditions.

• Beanless coffee startup Atomo is going through a “strategic realignment and restructuring” six months after raising $40 million in fresh funding. Read more.

• Esper laid off employees for the second time in seven months, slashing 21% of its workforce in the latest round of cuts. Read more. 

Century Therapeutics is closing its Seattle operations as part of a 25% reduction in headcount and a shift in its priorities.

• The Philadelphia-based startup launched a Seattle innovation hub in March 2020. Read more.  

Researchers at Seattle’s Allen Institute for Cell Science have mapped cell parts in 3D, unlocking the potential to better understand how cells operate.

• Researchers analyzed more than 200,000 human stem cells at high resolution in three dimensions, assessing the position of multiple internal structures. Read more.

Seattle science-fiction writer Nancy Kress has teamed with stem cell researcher Robert Lanza on a novel about consciousness and quantum weirdness.

• "Observer" explores everything we think we know about reality — time, space, and the universe itself. Read more.