Andy Jassy explains Amazon’s plans for generative AI 

• The biggest news was Amazon’s move into the new era of generative AI, which Jassy wrote “will transform and improve virtually every customer experience.” 

• On the economy, he hinted that Amazon isn’t done cutting costs, saying its top execs “will continue to evaluate what we’re seeing … and proceed adaptively.”

Read our key takeaways and check out the full letter.

Best ‘no comment’ of the day. “I don’t know. I’m a Giants fan,” Jassy said when CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked him about a report that Jeff Bezos is no longer considering a bid for the Washington Commanders. Here’s another highlight from the live interview at Amazon HQ.

Prem Kumar needed a break. The co-founder and CEO of Humanly, an AI-powered employee interviewing and onboarding startup, had gone 2 1/2 years without taking more than a day off. The challenges of the pandemic, an economic slowdown and his own fatigue caught up. Part of being a good leader was recognizing the need to change, and Kumar is a GeekWire Awards finalist for Startup CEO of the Year. Read the profile.

Redfin laid off 201 employees, or about 4% of its workforce, this week as the Seattle real estate company continues to trim expenses in response to the housing downturn and ongoing economic uncertainty.

This AI understands doctor’s notes. Seattle-area healthcare tech startup Truveta built a model designed to extract patient diagnoses, medications, lab results and other data from sometimes messy or unstructured sources like physician’s notes and insurance claims. Read more.

A new startup is helping filmmakers and TV producers get a different look at their content during the storyboarding process through the use of generative AI. Storia AI recently placed first in the Madrona Venture Labs Launchable Foundation Models competition. Read more.

Hot links:

• A price on nostalgia: When’s the last time you fired up the VCR? Well, a tape of the film “Rocky” sold for $27,500 because collectors are drawn to historic items during a time when content is fast and fleeting. (The New York Times)

• Arrest in SF killing: Police have arrested a man in the April 4 stabbing death of tech executive Bob Lee, and the suspect is a tech entrepreneur. (Mission Local)