Amazon and SpaceX vets lead new carbon accounting startup

Amazon and SpaceX vets are leading a new carbon accounting startup called Muir AI that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help companies calculate and cut emissions. Some carbon calculations are relatively easy, but it can get tricky to assess carbon impacts that aren’t directly controlled by a corporation. That’s where Muir wants to help. (Above: Muir AI co-founders CEO Harris Chalat, left, and Chief Technology Officer Peter Williams.)

Related: Scope 5, a Seattle-based company that also offers sustainability data management tools, is looking to grow after being acquired last year. 

Amazon has been dealt a blow in a long-running civil case against two former AWS real estate managers, Carl Nelson and Casey Kirschner, but the company says it will press ahead with kickback allegations despite the dismissal of seven of its eight claims. The case has been kept in the public eye through social media posts and media appearances by Nelson’s wife, entrepreneur Amy Sterner Nelson, founder of The Riveter. Read more.

Tech Moves: Remitly adds two new board members; longtime Halo leader departing; former Skyward CEO lands at agtech startup; and more key personnel changes.

Los Angeles venture firm Bonfire is looking to Seattle for new startup investments. Seattle is “an incredible ecosystem littered with talent," said Tyler Churchill, a principal with the early stage B2B firm. Read more.

This is not your grandparents’ 007. British author Kim Sherwood takes an unconventional tack in her first spy thriller, which features quantum computers, a cloud-shifting climate control system and a billionaire who owns his own launch system and satellite constellation — but no James Bond. Read more and listen to Alan Boyle’s “Fiction Science” podcast.

Hot links:

• To GPT or not GPT: Venture capitalist Bill Gurley can’t figure out if ChatGPT poses a serious threat to Google’s search empire. But his latest experience is making Gurley lean back toward “yes.” (Twitter)

• Stability over status: Tech worker priorities are shifting in the wake of widespread layoffs. (Wall Street Journal)

• WaPost spotlights Seattle: The newspaper examines how the city is “looking for its next act” after sustaining rapid tech growth.