Amazon's quest to become a startup again | 6 years of progress in driverless cars

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Amazon's decision to bring its employees back to the office five days a week is a window into the challenges facing the e-commerce and technology giant, and CEO Andy Jassy's larger plan to get the company to operate like "the world's largest startup" again.

Plus, GeekWire's John Cook gets into the backseat of a driverless car for the first time since 2018, and has a very different experience.

🎙️Read more and listen here, and subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

Amazon’s real estate chief is retiring: John Schoettler, who oversaw the growth of Amazon’s office footprint for more than two decades, is retiring at the end of 2024. Read more.

Can this startup help improve your golf swing? Sportsbox AI got a huge vote of confidence after golf superstar Bryson DeChambeau credited its technology for helping him win the U.S. Open tournament. GeekWire Editor Taylor Soper tried out Sportsbox to see how it works — and whether it can improve his golf game. Read more. 

📆 Upcoming events: Tech and startup community gatherings on our radar next week in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

• Sept. 21: Georgetown Steam Plant Science Fair

• Sept. 21: Innovating for a Sustainable Future: Leadership, Diversity, and Resilience in Technology and Engineering

• Sept. 24: FullConTech 2024

• Sept. 24: Seattle Data, AI & Security Meetup 2024

• Sept. 25: Washington State Academy of Sciences Annual Symposium: AI for Washington State

Check out the GeekWire Calendar for more.

Hot Links:

• OpenAI’s new ChatGPT model, “o1,” significantly improves math and reasoning abilities by using a step-by-step “chain-of-thought” process, a University of Washington researcher explains. (UW News)

• Generative AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot have not significantly improved software developer productivity and have increased bug rates by 41%, a new study by Seattle startup Uplevel suggests. (Uplevel blog)

• Veeam, the Kirkland, Wash.-based cybersecurity company, acquired Bay Area startup Alcion, which specializes in AI-driven data management and protection, and appointed Alcion's CEO, Niraj Tolia, as its new CTO. (Puget Sound Business Journal; also see GeekWire’s previous coverage of Veeam’s shift to the Seattle region)