Seattle and Spokane mayors on the evolution of innovation economies 

As a distinguished engineer working on the Microsoft Azure AI Search team, Pablo Castro has insight into the inner workings of generative AI, AI search, and more. Speaking on a new episode of the Shift AI Podcast, Castro lays out the AI trends he’s watching. 

See you tonight at the GeekWire Awards! We’re gathering at Showbox SoDo in Seattle to honor the leading innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists and business leaders in the Pacific Northwest. If you have last-minute questions about the event, check out this FAQ.

“It’s not about the solution, it’s about the problem.” We spoke with Lexion CEO Gaurav Oberoi — who just sold his third startup in a deal with Docusign — to learn about the veteran entrepreneur’s approach to building companies.

Hot Links:

• Xbox turmoil: Microsoft’s latest round of gaming-related layoffs reportedly shocked employees and added to broader industry cutbacks. (The Verge)

• More than 100,000 independent sellers on Amazon have used one of the company’s generative AI listing tools. (Amazon)

• University of Washington researchers created a browser extension that lets viewers and creators add Wikipedia-like citations to YouTube videos. (UW News)