Lumen CEO Kate Johnson on AI, lessons from Microsoft, and Seattle tech

Lumen Technologies CEO Kate Johnson is responsible for reinventing the traditional telecommunications company for the era of cloud and AI, and she has been spending a lot of time in Seattle recently as part of the process. 

• It helps that Johnson has a home in the area, as a holdover from her prior role as Microsoft’s U.S. president. But beyond that, she cites the region’s importance as a major U.S. tech hub, home to the biggest cloud platforms, with a strong tech community, and tech-savvy customers interested in fiber internet service.

• We spoke with Johnson recently at Lumen Field in Seattle for a special episode of the GeekWire Podcast, discussing her efforts to change Lumen’s culture and lessons from Microsoft’s transformation. Read more and listen here.

"It's really great to finally come and accept your thanks and adulation for Windows Vista.” That was T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, the former Windows exec who gave the opening keynote at the Microsoft Alumni global conference in Redmond today. Check back on GeekWire for more coverage from the event.

Microsoft tests greener alternatives to conventional concrete: The company is building 120 new data centers this year alone, and concrete is a big source of carbon emissions. So, at a building site in Eastern Washington, Microsoft contractors poured different mixes for sidewalk slabs using material that could help reduce the company's carbon footprint. Read more.

University of Washington researchers roll out tiny robot: “MilliMobile” is the size of a penny, and instead of a battery, the device uses surrounding light and radio waves to move in short bursts. Read more. 

An “Urban Innovation Lab” could spur entrepreneurship and give a boost to downtown Seattle, writes Chuck Wolfe, an author and urbanism consultant. Such a venue could  foster сollаborаtion, exрerimentаtion, аnԁ leаrning аmong diverse stаkeholԁers … with а саrefully curated аgenԁа for downtown regenerаtion. Read more.

Hot Links:

• A 19-year-old at the University of Washington used public record requests to uncover admissions rubrics to competitive majors, and compiled the information on a website called GetUWMajor.com, which also uses GPT-4 to grade admissions essays. (Seattle Times)

• Madrona Venture Group released its 2023 Intelligent Applications 40 list — one Seattle company made the list: WellSaid Labs. (Madrona)

• Helion, a Seattle-area nuclear fusion company, is partnering with America’s largest steel company to build a power plant. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

• Microsoft is integrating Bing into Meta’s new AI chat experiences. (Bing blog)

• The Allen Institute in Seattle landed funding for three new projects to map mouse and macaque brain connections. (Allen Institute)  

• Former Amazon exec Dave Clark, who recently resigned as CEO of Flexport, updated his LinkedIn in an interesting way. His Flexport experience is now listed under “education.” (X)