Seattle-based Code.org laid off 18 employees, or about 14% of its staff, the nonprofit confirmed to GeekWire on Wednesday.

Following the cuts, Code.org’s staff now numbers 107. 

“Code.org has made the difficult decision to part ways with 18 colleagues as part of efforts to ensure our long-term sustainability,” the organization said in an emailed statement. “Their contributions helped millions of educators and students around the world, and we are grateful for their efforts.”

Code.org was launched in 2013 by brothers Hadi and Ali Partovi with a mission to expand computer science education to K-12 students. Backed by nearly $60 million in funding from the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Google and others, Code.org counts 102 million students and 3 million teachers on its platform today, with 232 million projects created by students around the world.

CEO Hadi Partovi is a former Microsoft manager and was an early investor in companies including Facebook, DropBox, Airbnb and Uber.

“Our mission remains unchanged,” the organization said in its statement. “We will continue our Hour of AI campaign, along with our work to reform policies and new curriculum supporting CS+AI education in classrooms.”

Previously:

• ‘We are all kids in the age of AI’: Trevor Noah teaches 5th graders — and learns a few things himself
• Code.org CEO rips NY Times for stoking ‘populist fears’ over computer science jobs and AI

Washington Sen. Patty Murray believes the future of artificial intelligence shouldn’t be dictated solely by billionaires and shareholders.

The longtime lawmaker toured research facilities at the University of Washington on Friday after securing $10 million in federal funding that will allow the UW to expand the infrastructure needed for data-intensive AI workloads.

Sen. Murray said the funding will help provide a counterweight to AI development driven primarily by private capital.

“If just billionaires are creating and using AI for their own projects that make money, then we lose out on most of the benefits of AI,” Murray told GeekWire.

Universities play a critical role in ensuring AI advances serve public needs, Murray said, pointing to applications ranging from healthcare and environmental research to workforce training and job creation.

The new funding, which comes through Congressionally Directed Spending in the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, will support Tillicum, the UW’s next-generation computing platform that launched in October.

University leaders say the investment will enable faster research cycles and broader access — while reducing reliance on commercial cloud providers.

“This allows us to stay at the cutting edge of AI and AI research,” said Andrew Connolly, director of the eScience Institute.

Unlike private companies that ultimately answer to shareholders, public universities answer to taxpayers, said Magdalena Balazinska, director of the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. “That means our goal is to do what’s best for society,” she said.

Universities nationwide have struggled to keep pace with the rapid growth of AI computing demands, as private companies dominate access to large-scale infrastructure.

Balazinska called the new funding a “very significant amount,” saying that even relatively modest investments can be transformative in an academic setting. She added that access to computing resources is often the first question prospective faculty ask when considering whether they can be successful at the UW.

Murray on Friday visited the UW’s eScience Institute, a data science and AI research hub for the university, and spoke with students about their work. A recurring theme during the tour was the importance of keeping sensitive data on campus.

Several students demonstrated AI projects that rely on large volumes of personal or scientific data, including a health-focused system that uses voice input and AI analysis to track symptoms and generate summaries for doctors. Researchers said developing such tools on UW-owned infrastructure avoids sending sensitive data to third-party cloud providers. Having in-house compute also allows students and faculty to iterate more quickly.

Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, framed the funding as foundational infrastructure and key to the economy in her home state.

“If you don’t have the computers, if you don’t have the basic infrastructure, you’re stymied,” she said. “So this benefits everybody — whether it’s creating jobs, whether it’s creating better healthcare, whether it’s creating more innovators who come here to Washington state to be able to create jobs for the future and make a better way of life for all of us.”

Murray also helped secure an additional $3 million for new fan blades at the UW’s Kirsten Wind Tunnel, and $1.5 million for improvements to UW’s Radiocarbon Lab. The broader federal spending bill boosts funding for other scientific agencies such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, pushing back on proposals from President Trump to sharply cut federal research spending.

A divided three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the University of Washington violated a computer science professor’s First Amendment rights when it investigated and reprimanded him for posting a parody land acknowledgment in a syllabus.

The professor, Stuart Reges, has taught at UW’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering since 2004. In January 2022, he included his own land acknowledgment in a syllabus for an introductory programming course, pushing back against the school’s recommendation that faculty include a statement recognizing Coast Salish peoples.

His version invoked philosopher John Locke’s labor theory of property to argue the opposite point — that indigenous peoples could claim “almost none” of the land occupied by UW.

The statement sparked student complaints, a public apology from the Allen School, a disciplinary investigation lasting more than a year, and a separate section of the course taught by another instructor. 

Reges was ultimately not formally sanctioned, but was warned that repeating the statement could lead to discipline — a threat the court said itself violated the First Amendment.

Represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Reges sued the UW in 2022. A district court sided with UW, but the Ninth Circuit reversed that decision last Friday, Dec. 19.

Writing for the majority, Judge Daniel Bress said student discomfort cannot justify retaliation against a professor’s speech on matters of public concern. 

Judge Sidney Thomas dissented, arguing that the disruption that Reges’ statement caused to Native students’ learning outweighed his First Amendment speech interests.

Potential next steps for the University of Washington could include asking for a rehearing from the full Ninth Circuit or an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the university does neither, the case returns to district court to determine remedies.

The UW said in a statement that it is weighing its options. “We maintain that we have a responsibility to protect our students and that the UW acted appropriately,” the UW statement said.