Welcome to the Redmond Space District | Deploying clean energy

Oregon battery manufacturer ESS is one of many climate firms that has stumbled along its journey while also showing promise, demonstrating the challenges and patience required for a clean energy manufacturer to hit its stride. We spoke with the company’s CEO about its struggles and opportunities. 

New census data shows that the Seattle area is among U.S. metros experiencing population growth more in line with pre-pandemic rates.

Tech Moves: Microsoft exec Charlie Bell joins Twilio board; FasterBetter hires Seattle marketing leader; and more key personnel changes in PNW tech.

Capital gains tax: An estimated 7,000 Washington state households could be affected by the new tax. Here’s what to know if that's you. 

Related: 

• 7 reasons why the capital gains tax is good for Washington state

• 7 reasons why the capital gains tax is bad for Washington state

GPT-4 is both “smarter than you and dumber than you.” That’s the take from Microsoft Research chief Peter Lee, who thinks the AI tool has “amazing capabilities” and could be useful for healthcare. But it also has limitations and can be “dangerous,” Lee said. Read more. 

Tech vets who spent years at Google, Apple, Shopify and other companies are leading a new Seattle-based large language model startup called Pixie that announced a $17 million seed round this week. 

T-Mobile Park in Seattle was rocking for the Mariners’ season-opening win last night, and one man’s LEGO version of the stadium (above) was looking pretty good, too, after a major upgrade.

• Meanwhile, we’re pretty sure that’s Amazon CEO Andy Jassy seated behind home plate in the silver jacket, as seen during the strikeout of the night.

Hot links:

• No intelligenza artificiale? Italy’s privacy regulator ordered a ban on ChatGPT over concerns about the data of Italian users. (Politico)

• Comma sense: The King County Council voted to make use of the Oxford comma standard practice when writing legislation. (Seattle Times)

• The checkmark blues: Verified Twitter users from LeBron James to William Shatner are balking at the social media giant's plan to uncheck them if they don’t pay up. (Twitter)