Is Seattle an AI hub? | Real estate startup acquisition

Greetings, GeekWire readers. Today we’re tracking a real estate startup acquisition, an emerging space frontier in Seattle, and a new policy for Kindle authors. Our featured story focuses on Seattle’s AI clout. 

Is Seattle an AI hub? Seattle tech leaders we interviewed certainly believe so. But judging by recent lists highlighting promising AI startups, Seattle is getting left out of the national conversation about the new tech economy. The city’s subduedness and a lack of awareness beyond its borders may hurt its ability to attract leading entrepreneurs and executives in AI — which could be problematic as the industry, buoyed by recent developments in generative AI, is projected to generate trillions of dollars in economic impact. Read our story. 

Did AI write that book or merely assist in the process? It’s a question that might have taken place between book authors and contributors in the past when, say, deciding whether to put someone’s name on the cover. Now the distinction will determine whether an author needs to disclose the use of artificial intelligence when using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

• The new policy follows complaints about a flood of AI-generated content in the Kindle store, including a New York Times exposé about travel guidebooks.

Read more, and see how Amazon is defining the two types of AI content. 

Real estate startup acquisition: Onder, a Seattle-based home maintenance startup, has been acquired by EasyKnock, a New York-based home-buying company. Founded in 2021, Onder deployed maintenance technicians to help with interior and exterior tasks. Read more. 

A new space frontier: Thirty years after the first flight of a pioneering reusable rocket ship known as the Delta Clipper Experimental, or DC-X, a commercial venture is aiming to bring its legacy to life in the Seattle area. Read more. 

Hot Links:

• ChatGPT’s Iowa roots: Water from two rivers in central Iowa was used to cool a supercomputer working to teach OpenAI’s systems. (The Associated Press)

• Reinforcing gender bias: Kieran Snyder, CEO of Seattle startup Textio, demonstrates how ChatGPT can make assumptions about workplace roles in writing performance reviews. (Textio)

• The “ruthless” and “reckless” AI drivers add a fun spin to the new Forza Motorsport game from Xbox Game Studios. (PC Gamer)