Seattle art school moves into Amazon HQ tower | Starbucks hit with class action suit

A portrait of tech and art working together is emerging on Amazon’s Seattle headquarters campus. Gage Academy of Art moved its school from a 100-year-old building to the 5-year-old re:Invent tower, bringing along a colorful and quirky aesthetic to a modern skyscraper, and serving as a proof of concept for how arts organizations and tech companies can partner in helping to diversify and revitalize downtown Seattle. See GeekWire’s tour.

Full-body MRI scans: There’s a recent trend of venture-backed startups promising to help consumers detect potential signs of cancer by paying upwards of $2,500 and laying in a high-tech tube for an hour. Celebrities and online influencers tout these companies, but some medical professionals have concerns. We gave it a try to learn more about the process. 

Amazon shut down a returns hub in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood at Starbucks’ headquarters. The company closed its Fresh Pickup grocery service at the same location earlier this year. Read more.

Amazon will make its Alexa voice assistant more conversational with help from Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence technology, according to a new report from Reuters. Amazon has invested $4 billion in Anthropic for a minority stake in the San Francisco-based AI company.

Hot Links:

• Starbucks is the target of a new class action lawsuit alleging that the company misled investors about earnings projections. (Restaurant Business)

• Several Seattle-area community colleges won grants from the National Science Foundation for STEM education programs. (NSF)

• Central Washington University and Western Washington University landed separate NSF grants to help tap into regional innovation ecosystems. (NSF)