The future of the information economy is in flux | Amazon’s Super Bowl ad scores high

The web search industry has been thrown into disarray with advancements such as ChatGPT, as content generation becomes instantaneous, fully automated, and its cost drops toward zero. 

• That’s the word from Oren Etzioni, former CEO and current technical director at the Allen Institute of Intelligence, who argues for a stronger role of digital authentication of identity in this guest commentary for GeekWire.

Our latest GeekWire Podcast episode also focuses on the potential impact of AI-boosted search as we hear from Microsoft executive Yusuf Mehdi, who helped reveal the company’s new Bing search engine.

• "This is the beginning of a new generation of search,” said Mehdi, Microsoft veteran who believes this could be “one of these special moments." Listen and read more here. 

Amazon scored high among Super Bowl advertisers with a touching spot about a dog who is left home alone when remote work and school ends for one family.

• The commercial, with a simple nod to Amazon’s e-commerce roots, looked like it might be a cautionary tale about pandemic-induced pet adoption, but the happy ending helped it eclipse other tech-related ads. Read more.

• Related: Travolta sings T-Mobile’s praises, and more tech spots from the Super Bowl

Former Washington state senator Reuven Carlyle launched a new startup that will provide a suite of services to help businesses reduce their climate impacts.

• Earth Finance raised $14 million and will offer strategy and advisory services, climate financing and investing, and technology support. Read more.    

A new wealth tax bill is one of several legislative attempts to tax wealthy Washington state residents without instigating a formal income tax.

• The latest proposal comes at a time when the state’s Supreme Court is reviewing the legality of a capital gains tax passed last year. Read more.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.