Oren Etzioni
Oren Etzioni is the Founder at AI2 Incubator, Columnist at GeekWire, Venture Partner at Madrona Venture Group, Founder and CEO at Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and works at Anthropic. He founded AI2 Incubator and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, both of which are still running, as well as Decide and Farecast, which were acquired, and TrueMedia.org, which closed. His expertise includes fundamental problems in AI, machine reading, deepfake detection, and agents.
Jacob Colker announces Seattle startup gathering at Showbox Market thanking J.P. Morgan, Google, Fenwick & West and Pilot.com
Jacob Colker thanks sponsors, Seattle founders, and the AI House team after a gathering at the historic Showbox Market, expressing enthusiasm for the local startup community.
Anthropic acquires Vercept, the AI job crisis scenario, and Microsoft's past Epstein connections
Anthropic acquired Seattle startup Vercept on Wednesday, raising familiar questions about the impact of early exits on the broader Seattle startup ecosystem, and the question of whether AI startups can compete long-term against the giants of the field. We dig into the deal, the public feud between two of the company's early investors on LinkedIn, and why one co-founder's prior departure to Meta may have been worth more than the entire acquisition. Plus, a new research paper envisions a 2028 "global intelligence crisis" driven by AI-fueled white collar job losses, and we're already seeing early signs in the news. Then…
Anthropic acquires Vercept, the AI desktop-agent start-up founded by ex-AI2 researchers, for undisclosed sum
Anthropic acquired Seattle-based AI interface start-up Vercept, founded in 2024 by former AI2 researchers, to bolster Claude’s agentic capabilities; the purchase price was not disclosed. Vercept, maker of the Vy natural-language desktop agent, had raised over $50M (including a $16M round in Jan 2025) and some founders expressed disappointment about the acquisition and platform shutdown plans.
By Oren
Twelve AI Labs Valued at Nearly $130 Billion Raise $29 Billion Without Commercial Products
Twelve AI startups dubbed 'Virgin Unicorns' have raised over $29 billion with a combined valuation nearing $130 billion despite having no commercial products. These companies, backed by top investors, reflect a high-stakes bet on AI's future commercialization potential.
Organizations
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GeekWire Columnist 2026–present · current
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AI House Founder 2014–present · current
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Madrona Venture Partner 2000–present · current
Education
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Carnegie Mellon University Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), computer science · 1986–1991
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Harvard University B.A., computer science · 1982–1986
