Business potential of GPT-3 | Amazon adds new grocery fees

Some startup leaders and tech veterans believe generative AI will increasingly lead to new tools for businesses and entrepreneurs.

• One example is Smartynames, the brainchild of Kirill Zubovsky (above), an engineer, startup founder, and tech consultant. He created the domain and business name finder using tools including the GPT-3 natural language processing technology from ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which this week announced a new investment from its partner Microsoft.

• On a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Zubovsky shares his experience with AI and Smartynames over the past couple of months, offers his advice for incorporating generative AI into business and daily life, and talks about where he thinks the technology could take us next. Listen and read highlights here.

A Seattle punk-pop group that played this week as the “house band” between periods at a Seattle Kraken game at Climate Pledge Arena won’t be playing again this weekend as previously planned, the band tweeted Friday — along with a clip of a song from its first performance criticizing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

• However, an executive with the Seattle Kraken says the decision not to have the band back for two more scheduled performances was unrelated to the song or to the lines about Bezos. Read more. 

Paul Maritz, a legendary figure from Microsoft's heyday who went on to lead VMware and other tech companies, has emerged as a major investor in True, a messaging and social networking app that promises to make privacy paramount for its users.

• Martiz believes the tech industry can build a better social network, one that doesn’t trade in the personal information of its users — and now he’s backing an effort to prove it.

Amazon is tacking on new service fees for Prime members who get less than $150 worth of groceries via the company’s Amazon Fresh delivery service.

• The new fees come as Amazon looks to trim expenses across the company. Read more. 

Wizards of the Coast is officially leaving its old rules in place to govern independently-published material for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game.

• A leak earlier this month indicated that Renton, Wash.-based Wizards would seek to deauthorize and replace its Open Game License (OGL), a public copyright notice from 2000 that allows third parties to create virtually any sort of D&D material for profit, such as adventure modules, sourcebooks, or live-play shows. Read more.