Allen Institute hits 20 years on the frontier of bioscience

Allen Institute hits 20 years on the frontier of bioscience: The Seattle research center that bears the name of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen still focuses on brain science, but the mission has expanded over the years. 

• Divisions for cell science, immunology, and neural dynamics have all been added, and CEO Rui Costa is looking forward to “the next 20 years of impact.” 

• Seattle landmarks will light up in green to mark the anniversary this weekend and a public event to showcase the institute’s work is coming up. Read more. 

 Is AI the next transformational wave, or is it overhyped? We caught up with a number of founders, investors and tech leaders at the massive “Founders Bash” in Seattle Thursday night to get their take on tech’s biggest talking point. Read more.

• Previously: Is Seattle an AI hub? City is missing from national conversation about the new tech economy

Larry Ellison hasn’t been to Microsoft HQ before?! It was hard to believe, but yes, the Oracle chairman and CTO opened a joint appearance with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella by saying it was his first visit. It illustrates the fierce rivalry between the companies over the years, and the remarkable nature of their recent partnership, which the companies expanded Thursday with the news that Oracle databases will now run in Microsoft’s cloud. 

Five reasons to be bullish on climate tech: A panel of entrepreneurs and elected officials made their case for why now is the right time for venture capitalists to be writing checks to startups and companies working to decarbonize the economy. (Above, from left: Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon; Earth Finance founder and former Sen. Reuven Carlyle; Tanya Barham, CEO of Community Energy Labs; and Aina Abiodun, president and executive director of VertueLab.) Read more.

Writing code to save lives: A program at Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center called “Coding for Cancer” helps high school students explore how their computer skills can be a valuable resource in the fight against cancer. Read more. 

Hot Links:

• Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky says it’s too early to declare any winners in AI, touts AWS’s “full-stack” approach, and raises questions about ChatGPT, saying Amazon is being “super careful” to ensure its models generate accurate results. (Axios)

• The future of NFL broadcasts? That’s one take as Amazon Prime Vision brought an assortment of data points and on-screen graphics to “Thursday Night Football.” (X)

• One of the giant troll sculptures installed in Seattle by a Danish environmental artist was vandalized this week, but crews were able to remove the spray paint. (West Seattle Blog) ... Also, see GeekWire's earlier coverage of the installations.