Amazon Doubles Down on AI by Investing $100 Million

Amazon Web Services (AWS) – the cloud unit of the e-commerce giant – said it will distribute $100 million for a center to help entities employ generative artificial intelligence (AI). 

Microsoft and Google – two other giant corporations – have made even bigger investments in AI. 

• AWS’ CEO Adam Selipsky revealed the plans in a recent interview for CNBC, showing that the company realizes the potential of the new technology:

“You ask yourself the question — where are the different runners three steps into a 10K race? Does it really matter? The point is, you’re three steps in, and it’s a 10K race.” 

• The exec explained that the new feature will not function as a physical center but rather as a “program.” He added that RyanAir, Lonely Planet, Highspot, and Twilio have already jumped on board.
• Selipsky sees an optimistic future for artificial intelligence, calling it “the next wave of innovation in the cloud.” According to him, it will be “the next big thing” that pushes clients to want to be in the cloud.
• Amazon has already hopped on the AI bandwagon by introducing the virtual assistant technology Alexa. However, those efforts and the upcoming $100 million investment are no match for what other leading corporations have done.
• The multinational tech giant – Microsoft – distributed $10 billion into OpenAI several months ago. This has been the third investment into the AI startup, with the previous made in 2019 and 2021. 
• Shortly after, Google invested $300 million in Anthropic. Formed in 2021 by former members of OpenAI, the latter is an artificial intelligence safety and research company based in San Francisco.