Amazon has announced the establishment of a new research and development lab in San Francisco - the Amazon AGI SF Lab, marking another significant strategic move by the company in the field of artificial intelligence.
This lab will be personally led by David Luan, co-founder of Adept, with the core goal of developing AI agents that can "take action" in both digital and physical worlds, capable of handling complex workflows across computers, web browsers, and code interpreters.
The lab will be jointly operated by Luan and renowned robotics researcher Pieter Abbeel, with initial research focusing on several key areas: enabling AI agents to perform actions in the real world, learning from human feedback, self-correction, and inferring human intentions.
Notably, the lab will primarily be staffed by Adept employees, and Amazon plans to recruit dozens more researchers in fields such as quantitative finance, physics, and mathematics. This move aligns with the technology licensing agreement reached between Adept and Amazon in June of this year, with Luan and other core team members officially joining Amazon.
Currently, "agent-based AI" is becoming a fiercely contested area in the tech industry. According to Emergen Research, this niche market is expected to reach a size of $31 billion by the end of the year. A survey by Capgemini shows that 82% of companies plan to integrate AI agent technology within three years, driven by the efficiency improvements it promises.
In addition to Amazon, tech giants like OpenAI and Google are also actively advancing similar technologies. The common goal among major players is to develop AI systems capable of completing tasks independently.
It's worth mentioning that Amazon's move comes after CEO Andy Jassy has repeatedly hinted at creating a more "agent-like" Alexa. This e-commerce giant seems to be envisioning a more powerful and proactive future for its AI assistant.
In the race for artificial intelligence, Amazon is accelerating its strategy in its own unique way, clearly unwilling to remain just a follower but aiming to seize a leading position in the global AI competition.
