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The opening panel at Seattle AI Week 2025, from left: Randa Minkarah, WTIA chief operating executive; Joe Nguyen, Washington commerce director; Rep. Cindy Ryu; Nathan Lambert, Allen Institute for AI; and Brittany Jarnot, Salesforce. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper)
Seattle is looking to celebrate and accelerate its leadership in artificial intelligence at the very moment the first wave of the AI economy is crashing down on the region’s tech workforce.
That contrast was hard to miss Monday evening at the opening reception for Seattle AI Week 2025 at Pier 70. On stage, panels offered a healthy dose of optimism about building the AI future. In the crowd, buzz about Amazon’s impending layoffs brought the reality of the moment back to earth.
A region that rose with Microsoft and then Amazon is now dealing with the consequences of Big Tech’s AI-era restructuring. Companies that hired by the thousands are now thinning their ranks in the name of efficiency and focus — a dose of corporate realism for the local tech economy.
The double-edged nature of this shift is not lost on Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson.
“AI, and the future of AI, and what that means for our state and the world — each day I do this job, the more that moves up in my mind in terms of the challenges and the opportunities we have,” Ferguson told the AI Week crowd. He touted Washington’s concentration of AI jobs, saying his goal is to maximize the benefits of AI while minimizing its downsides.
Gov. Bob Ferguson addresses the AI Week opening reception. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)
Seattle AI Week, led by the Washington Technology Industry Association, was started last year after a Forbes list of the nation’s top 50 AI startups included none from Seattle, said the WTIA’s Nick Ellingson, opening this year’s event. That didn’t seem right. Was it a messaging problem?
“A bunch of us got together and said, let’s talk about all the cool things happening around AI in Seattle, and let’s expand the tent beyond just tech things that are happening,” Ellingson explained.
So maybe that’s the best measuring stick: how many startups will this latest shakeout spark, and how can the Seattle region’s startup and tech leaders make it happen? Can the region become less dependent on the whims of the Microsoft and Amazon C-suites in the process?
“Washington has so much opportunity. It’s one of the few capitals of AI in the world,” said WTIA’s Arry Yu in her opening remarks. “People talk about China, people talk about Silicon Valley — there are a few contenders, but really, it’s here in Seattle. … The future is built on data, on powerful technology, but also on community. That’s what makes this place different.”
And yet, “AI is a sleepy scene in Seattle, where people work at their companies, but there’s very little activity and cross-pollinating outside of this,” said Nathan Lambert, senior research scientist with the Allen Institute for AI, during the opening panel discussion.
No, we don’t want to become San Francisco or Silicon Valley, Lambert added. But that doesn’t mean the region can’t cherry-pick some of the ingredients that put Bay Area tech on top.
Whether laid-off tech workers will start their own companies is a common question after layoffs like this. In the Seattle region at least, that outcome has been more fantasy than reality.
This is where AI could change things, if not with the fabled one-person unicorn then with a bigger wave of new companies born of this employment downturn. Who knows, maybe one will even land on that elusive Forbes AI 50 list. (Hey, a region can dream!)
But as the new AI reality unfolds in the regional workforce, maybe the best question to ask is whether Seattle’s next big thing can come from its own backyard again.
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Presight has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE Cyber Security Council (CSC). As a part of this collaboration, the CyberE71 program, operated by the Council, will officially join Presight’s AI-Startup Accelerator as a partner, reinforcing the program’s mission to scale impactful AI-driven innovation in the UAE and beyond.
Through this MoU, Presight and the Cyber Security Council will collaborate to empower AI startups to innovate responsibly and securely. The partnership brings national cybersecurity expertise and strategic mentorship into the Presight AI-Startup Accelerator, exploring a joint framework for research, technical enablement, and capacity-building initiatives. Together, they will drive collaboration across government, academia, and the private sector, embedding cybersecurity into the foundation of AI development and reinforcing the UAE’s position as a global leader in digital innovation and resilience.
The agreement was signed during Expand North Star 2025 between His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security For UAE government, and Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Presight.
H.E. Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti said: “Cybersecurity and artificial intelligence are twin pillars of the UAE’s digital transformation journey. Our collaboration with Presight reflects a shared commitment to fostering responsible innovation and ensuring that emerging technologies are developed with security at their core. As a national AI champion, Presight brings the infrastructure, scale, and vision needed to accelerate startup success while maintaining trust and resilience. Together, with the CyberE71 Program and Presight AI Accelerator Program, we will help empower a new generation of entrepreneurs to create transformative, secure technologies that advance the UAE’s position as a trusted global hub for digital innovation.”
Thomas Pramotedham, CEO of Presight, said: “Presight and the UAE Cyber Security Council have enjoyed a long history of collaboration, and I share my deepest gratitude to His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti for extending our partnership to now include the Presight AI-Startup Accelerator. Our collaboration with the UAE Cyber Security Council will unite Presight’s strengths in artificial intelligence with the Council’s national leadership in cyber resilience. Together, we are enabling startups to scale securely and responsibly, driving technologies that deliver transformation while safeguarding the trust that underpins every digital interaction.”
By integrating cybersecurity principles into every stage of AI development, the collaboration between Presight and the UAE Cyber Security Council demonstrates the country’s forward-looking approach to building a technology ecosystem where innovation and security evolve together. It reinforces the UAE’s ambition to lead globally in ethical, responsible, and resilient digital transformation.
The Cyber Security Council joins a growing network of strategic partners supporting the Presight AI-Startup Accelerator, including Microsoft, MBZUAI and Shorooq. Together, these partnerships form a dynamic ecosystem that equips startups with the mentorship, infrastructure, market access, and policy alignment needed to build transformative AI solutions at scale.
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