Seattle ranks No. 3 in software startup funding list | Amazon starts drone deliveries in Phoenix

Seattle-area AI experts Oren Etzioni and Christof Koch talk about whether large language models will ever achieve the status of personhood — or even consciousness. Read more.

It’s Election Day, and two ballot initiatives in Washington state have implications for the tech industry. Initiative 2109 would repeal a new capital gains tax, and Initiative 2117 would impact the state’s climate tech sector. 

A former Gates Foundation leader raised $1.8 million for Ocean — formerly known as Eco-Shelter — a Tacoma, Wash.-based startup that makes high-performing, low-cost bamboo building materials. Read more. 

Resist the extreme narratives about AI: Artificial intelligence is not all doom and gloom, nor is it the silver bullet some are selling, writes Dave Siegfried, CEO of Seattle startup Official AI, in a new guest column.

Ocean data startup Astraeus Ocean Systems, which plans to field a fleet of autonomous boats to gather and analyze information on environmental conditions, won the Bellingham Angel Investors’ Startup Pitch Competition. Read about all the finalists and winners.

Hot Links:

• Amazon began making drone deliveries near Phoenix, promising delivery of items under 5 pounds in less than an hour using new MK30 drones. (Amazon)

• T-Mobile is reportedly paying OpenAI around $100 million over the next three years to use its technology. (The Information)

• Amazon’s new X-Ray Recaps for Prime Video uses generative AI to catch viewers up on full seasons, episodes or pieces of episodes to avoid the need to rewind. (Amazon)

• Apple is reportedly moving into a South Lake Union office building in Seattle previously occupied by Meta. (Puget Sound Business Journal)

• The campaign is over, and Seattle recycling startup Ridwell says it will pick up plastic yard signs for free to keep them out of landfills. (Ridwell)