AI startup lands cash from Sam Altman | Layoffs hit Flyhomes | Banzai goes public

A new startup out of Portland has attracted the attention of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman with its combination of artificial intelligence and human empathy to help people stay on task. Altman’s Apollo Projects has invested $3 million in Shelpful, which uses OpenAI's GPT-4 to run its own chatbot called HabitGPT. Read more. (Above: Shelpful co-founders, from left, CMO Lydia Swift, CEO Sharon Pope, and CTO Chris Morse.)

More layoffs at real estate startup Flyhomes: An undisclosed number of employees were let go in the latest round of cuts at the Seattle company, which said it is facing “persistent and worsening industry headwinds." Read more.

Banzai goes public: The Seattle-based marketing tech company, which announced a SPAC deal last year, rang the opening bell at Nasdaq in New York City on Friday morning. Read more. 

“Large language models in their current form are not inventions, they’re discoveries.” Jeff Bezos had a lot to say in a wide-ranging interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, but his comments about AI were especially timely and interesting. Read more. 

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory shines brighter spotlight on AI: The Department of Energy facility in Richland, Wash, is creating the Center for AI @PNNL, where researchers will use the tech to focus on scientific discovery, national security and energy resilience. Read more.

Wizards of the Coast is a bright spot for its struggling parent company Hasbro. So why is the Seattle-area maker of Dungeons and Dragons slashing jobs? Read more. 

First Row Partners picks winner of new competition: The Seattle VC firm spent the past six weeks running its Ensemble program designed to educate startup investors while providing capital and advice to early stage startups. Standd, a D.C. startup and Techstars Seattle grad that builds software to help lawyers and investors review deals, won the top investment prize. Read more.