Amazon CEO Andy Jassy doesn’t think the retail and cloud-computing giant should be left out of the artificial intelligence race just yet.
In an extensive interview with CNBC, Jassy challenged the notion that Amazon was lagging behind in AI as Microsoft and Google added chatbots to consumer products such as search engines, voicing it. He compared it to the “hype cycle” before the “material cycle.”
“I think most people are looking at applications. You know, things like ChatGPT raised everyone’s awareness, but I think there are three macro layers to generative AI. ‘, Jassy told Jon Fortt in an interview that aired on Closing Bell Overtime. late thursday. “I think those are all really big and important things.”
Jassy said Amazon intends to invest in AI company-wide, and AI programs have the potential to improve “virtually any customer experience.” But he specifically pointed to his Amazon Web service as one business that could capitalize on the AI buzz for the long term.
Earlier this year AWS announced a generative AI service called Bedrock. The service allows clients to use his Amazon and other startup language models to develop their own chatbots and image generation services.
AWS has also developed its own AI-specific chips called Inferentia and Trainium, aimed at making it easier for developers to run large-scale AI language models on the cloud. It will be competing with Nvidia, which has monopolized the AI chip market with powerful semiconductors.
Amazon expects its chips to be “much better value for money than anyone else,” Jassy said.
Jassy said Amazon has a real edge in AI through Bedrock, Amazon’s custom chips, and other services like CodeWhispherer, which generates and suggests code for developers.
AI has become a rare area of investment within Amazon, as Jassy has cut costs by culling some of the company’s riskier bets, citing weak sales and a bleak economic outlook. Amazon recently cut 27,000 jobs, the largest in company history. It also suspended the expansion of the Fresh Supermarket and Go Convenience Store chains, and ended virtual tour services, children’s video calling devices and care telemedicine services.
