Acquisitions in the news. Phenom, the leader in applied AI that helps organizations hire faster, develop better, and retain longer, today announced it acquired Included, an AI-native agentic people analytics platform that surfaces actionable insights for faster, smarter workforce decision-making. Employers.io has acquired Job-Applications.com with one clear goal: rebuild it for today's job market while keeping what made it useful in the first place. Oyster(R), the global employment solution to employ, pay, and care for distributed teams, today announced the appointment of Hadi Moussa as Chief Executive Officer. Moussa succeeds founder and CEO Tony Jamous, who will move into the new role of Executive Chairman with a focus on long-term vision and strategy. This founder-led transition will accelerate Oyster's growth and its mission to scale global employment equality. It will also strengthen the company's ability to support customers as they navigate AI-driven workforce transformation and expand global teams with confidence. Textio, a leader in building tools that help high-growth companies recruit and coach high-performing teams, today announced that its board has appointed Colleen Gallagher, currently Chief Operating Officer, as the company's next Chief Executive Officer. The HRIS Manager provides strategic, functional, and technical leadership in the development, implementation, and optimization of HR systems across Henry Crown and Company (HCC), CC Industries (CCI), and portfolio companies under management agreements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Textio today launched an addition to its AI platform: Interview Feedback - which quickly creates clear, compliant, and skills-based assessments of candidates, so organizations stop losing money on poor-fit hires that don't work out.

GeekWire’s startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory .Ryan Sloan.Editor’s note: Ryan Sloan, a data scientist based in Seattle, wrote this guest post after assessing the GeekWire 200, our list of top Pacific Northwest startups.I recently read that a company in Finland is using AI to find the “perfect coffee blend.” And here I am buying an imperfect blend of beans from a local coffee roaster like a sucker.There’s little question that AI is everywhere. I have a wide network of product managers and data scientists, and the vast majority of them are working on an AI integration or product of some sort. Companies talk about AI with enthusiasm — who doesn’t want “perfect” coffee?The market’s roaring enthusiasm for AI technology doesn’t transfer to individuals, though. Gallup’s 2024 survey found that only 13% of Americans believe AI does more good than harm. On top of that, 77% don’t trust businesses to use AI responsibly.I’m a data scientist in Seattle, so I wondered: how are local companies approaching the AI trend? Is it really everywhere in the startup bubble, or am I in an even smaller AI bubble? Is the hype out of control? Are they publicly committed to responsibility? (Spoiler: You’re not going to like all the answers).I took a deep dive into the public-facing content of some of the fastest-growing startups in the Pacific Northwest to analyze their AI-related language.Data and methodsThe GeekWire 200 is a ranked list of 200 fast-growing startups in the Pacific Northwest