Jeff Bezos seems concerned that Amazon is lagging behind rivals in the AI race.
Anonymous sources told CNBC that the founder and former CEO sent an email to Amazon executives asking why other AI companies aren't using the company's cloud services.
The official reportedly said that Amazon is considered the “most vulnerable” Big Tech company in the AI space. Bezos is aware of that perception and is “deeply involved” in his company's AI efforts and planning the playing field, according to CNBC.
Bezos also wants Amazon to introduce AI startups, according to the report.
The news comes amid a leadership shakeup at the company's cloud arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), following hundreds of layoffs in the division last month.
CEO Andy Jassy announced in a memo on Tuesday that Adam Selipsky was stepping down from his role leading AWS, which was seen by Business Insider and later posted on Amazon's website.
While OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google are considered front-runners in the generative AI race, Amazon is clearly making strategic moves to stay competitive.
The company is developing its own AI tools and has poured $4 billion into Anthropic, which created the AI assistant Claude.
Amazon is also funding warehouse robot maker Agility Robotics, and Bezos has recently made separate investments in AI startups, including Google search rival Perplexity AI and humanoid robot company Figure AI. are doing.
However, the November rollout of Amazon's AI chatbot Q was met with negative reactions as a result of a “rushed” launch, insiders previously told BI.
Amazon Bedrock, an enterprise AI platform that enables AWS customers to build chatbots and generate images, was announced in April and launched in September.
It was originally scheduled to roll out in late 2022, a person familiar with the matter previously told Business Insider, but Amazon has previously denied that claim.
Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment outside of normal business hours.
