Convenience Big Store: Amazon targets vibe-coding chaos with new AI software development tool

SPONSOR MESSAGE: Tech Vets, an ongoing GeekWire series presented by Northern Trust, showcases United States military veterans leading the Pacific Northwest tech industry: Read more.

TODAY'S TOP STORIES

Zillow’s Rich Barton (above, right) and Docusign’s Court Lorenzini share tips for startup founders — including what inspired them, sales strategies, revenue model philosophy, and building culture. Read more.

From ‘vibe coding to viable code’: Amazon jumped into the agentic AI coding race with a new tool called Kiro — designed to generate and maintain project plans, design documents, and implementation tasks alongside AI-written code. Read more.

The enduring secret to evaluating tech companies: On a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian explains why engineering excellence remains the best metric when assessing top companies. Read more.

PATH’s new Seattle HQ represents both resilience and celebration. The global health nonprofit laid off 45% of its workforce earlier this year following a U.S. foreign aid freeze under President Trump. Despite the cuts, PATH is pushing forward from its new Fremont HQ with expanded lab space and a renewed focus on sustainable healthcare innovation. Read more.

After Microsoft last week unveiled a $4 billion, five-year global initiative to help millions of people adapt to the rise of artificial intelligence, the first question for Brad Smith, the company’s vice chair and president, wasn’t about the new program. It was about the company’s own layoffs. Read more.

Hot Links:

U.S. retail sites saw higher-than-expected traffic from generative AI tools during Amazon’s Prime Day sale — though email and paid search remain dominant. (TechCrunch)
Microsoft highlights how AI is already having an impact on its science-related work. (Microsoft)
A new survey from F5 shows that most companies aren't ready to scale AI securely across their operations. (F5)

Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great week. — GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; and GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com.

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