AI House and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public were named Geeks Give Back honorees at the GeekWire Awards, a ceremony that celebrates tech initiatives with community impact across the Pacific Northwest.
The awards, presented by BECU, will recognize nearly 50 finalists across a dozen categories, with winners receiving robot trophies onstage on May 7 at Showbox SoDo in Seattle. Astound Business Solutions is the presenting sponsor, with gold sponsors Amazon Sustainability, Baird, BECU, JLL, First Tech, Wilson Sonsini, and silver sponsor Prime Team Partners.
AI House, a first-in-the-nation hub launched a little more than a year ago, has 1,000 desks and has hosted over 150 events in its 108,000-square-foot waterfront facility at Seattle’s Pier 70. The space, built on the AI2 Incubator platform, offers co-working for startups and has affinity groups for female founders, founder mental health and B2C founders. Monthly Pitch Please gatherings have already led to AI2 Incubator investments, and the calendar includes talks with prominent leaders.
Center for an Informed Public began in 2019 with a $5 million grant to study misinformation and educate the public. The program now runs a free online humanities course titled “Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines?”, co-hosts intergenerational AI events with high school students and seniors, and offers webinars such as “Understanding and Navigating Political Divides” and “Preparing Informed Citizens in an AI-Powered World.” It connects professors across disciplines and engages librarians, teachers, and students to equip people with tools for navigating modern media.
Managing director Yifan Zhang said the hub “is a big tent” that helps newcomers to Seattle’s startup scene meet people and gain new perspectives, while faculty director Emma Spiro noted that the center “has been really successful at finding mission-aligned, values-driven people who are willing to take on sometimes controversial work.”
