At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Vishal Sharma, Amazon's VP of AI General Technologies, stated that artificial intelligence (AI) has permeated every aspect of Amazon's business, leaving virtually no area untouched. He explained that Amazon is deploying AI across various applications, leveraging its own foundational models in cloud computing services (AWS), warehouse robotics, and consumer products like Alexa.
Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, licensed through Midjourney.
Sharma mentioned that Amazon currently operates approximately 750,000 robots in its warehouses, handling tasks such as picking and packing. Alexa, he noted, is one of the world's most widely used home AI products. He emphasized that all of Amazon's businesses are deeply integrated with generative AI.
Last December, AWS launched Nova, a suite of text-generation models—a series of multimodal generative AI models. Sharma pointed out that these models perform exceptionally well in public benchmark tests and are suitable for a wide range of applications. He noted that different scenarios have varying needs; some require video generation, while products like Alexa demand fast, predictable responses and must avoid erroneous instructions.
He also countered the notion that open-source models necessarily reduce computational demands. He argued that the level of intelligence required increases with application across diverse scenarios. Simultaneously, Amazon introduced "Bedrock," a service enabling businesses and startups to flexibly utilize various foundational models, including the Chinese DeepSeek model.
Furthermore, Amazon is collaborating with Anthropic, building a massive AI computing cluster using its Trainium2 chips, representing an $8 billion investment. Regarding the immense scale of these computing resources, Sharma believes computational capacity will remain a key industry discussion point for the foreseeable future.
When asked if Amazon felt pressured by the emergence of open-source models, Sharma expressed no concern, welcoming the deployment of diverse models like DeepSeek on AWS. He added that Amazon consistently prioritizes customer choice.
Addressing whether OpenAI's late-2022 launch of ChatGPT caught Amazon off guard, Sharma firmly denied this, emphasizing Amazon's nearly 25-year history in AI, citing Alexa's use of approximately 20 different AI models.
Regarding the recent US-Europe tensions and their potential impact on European companies' choices regarding generative AI resources, Sharma acknowledged the complexity of the issue and the unpredictability of future developments. He suggested that technological innovation is often influenced by incentive mechanisms.
Key Takeaways:
🌐 Amazon's VP states that AI has permeated all aspects of Amazon's business, affecting every area.
🤖 Amazon widely utilizes AI technology in cloud computing (AWS), robotics, and Alexa.
💻 The company launched the "Bedrock" service, allowing businesses flexible access to various foundational models.
