Inside Amazon’s new Bellevue skyscraper | Microsoft gets board seat at OpenAI

“I think we tried to lean in and make it feel a little bit more like home maybe than it had in the past, so it’s a comfortable place,” said Steve Erickson, principal at the architecture firm SABA+BA, who helped lead GeekWire on a tour of Amazon’s newest office tower in Bellevue, Wash., on Wednesday.

• The 42-story building, called Sonic, is the tallest in the city and features a variety of spaces that Amazon is using to test and learn more about how people work together.

• The building is not fully complete on the inside, as Amazon’s push to grow east of Seattle has been slowed as it sees what impact post-pandemic life has on office space.

• Read the story and see more photos from the tour. 

Microsoft is getting a voice on the revamped OpenAI board as a non-voting observer, according to a memo sent to OpenAI employees on Wednesday. The change may help prevent Microsoft, a major OpenAI investor, from being left out of the company’s consequential decision-making — such as the ouster of Sam Altman earlier this month. Read more.

How did 23-year-old Blake Resnick end up running a drone startup? The Brinc CEO (above, at the company's headquarters in Seattle) has an uncanny ability to see the big picture of business strategy while also diving deep into the details, including the components of drones down to individual part numbers. Read the latest profile in our Uncommon Thinkers series, presented by Greater Seattle Partners, and join us as we recognize all six honorees Dec. 6 at the GeekWire Gala in Seattle. 

• 5 good reasons to attend the GeekWire Gala: Early-bird pricing on tickets ends today for our annual holiday celebration in downtown Seattle. Here’s why you should make our party your work party and come out to the Showbox Market on Dec. 6. 

Race for rejuvenation: The $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan competition has drawn interest from pioneers in the field of longevity — and from at least one Seattle startup. The top prize will go to the team that does the best job at turning back the clock on the effects of aging. Read more. 

Seattle wants sustainable buildings: The City Council will vote on new rules requiring large buildings to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. Read more.

"This is a freight train that is coming your way, and you cannot avoid it." Amazon CTO Werner Vogels urged attendees at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas to focus on costs as a proxy for business sustainability and impact. He introduced a new tool in the AWS Management Console to more closely monitor cost, health, security, and performance of applications.

• Previously: We watched — and shopped — Amazon’s first Black Friday NFL broadcast

Seattle startup making waves: Oscilla Power is developing devices that capture wave energy to produce electricity. It’s an ambitious endeavor but experts say the technology could be a tremendous renewable energy source. Read more. 

Hot Links:

• The Washington Research Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant to Andres Barria, a University of Washington researcher studying new ways to treat Alzheimer's and other neurological conditions. (WRF)

• Battling burnout: Andrew Riesen, CEO of Seattle health-tech startup Heard, found a cure for his burnout by diving into his company’s sales rotation. (LinkedIn)

• The Pacific Northwest has one of the highest concentrations of EV use. (Axios)