Recently, Amazon announced a technology licensing agreement with AI startup Adept. The company's co-founders and some team members will join the e-commerce giant. Adept specializes in developing artificial intelligence "agents" capable of performing various software tasks, and its technology will support Amazon's expansion in the generative AI field.
According to Geekwire, Adept's co-founder and CEO David Luan will join Amazon, along with other co-founders Augustus Odena, Maxwell Nye, Erich Elsen, and Kelsey Szot. Despite this, Adept will not shut down; Engineering Director Zach Brock will take over as CEO, and the company will refocus on "solutions supporting agent AI."
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Adept stated on its official blog that it will continue to leverage its advanced AI models, agent data, network interaction software, and custom infrastructure to build useful general intelligence and enterprise agent products. This deal has brought new life to Adept, which had been in talks with Meta and Microsoft for a potential acquisition.
Amazon has acquired key talent and technology through this transaction. David Luan will work under Rohit Prasad, the former head of Alexa and now leading the new AGI team. Prasad noted that Adept's expertise aligns with Amazon's vision of serving consumers and business customers with practical AI solutions.
In just two years since its inception, Adept aimed to create an AI model capable of operating on any software tool using natural language. Despite operational challenges and fierce market competition, Adept has raised over $415 million with a valuation of about $1 billion. This partnership with Amazon may help Adept overcome its challenges and commercialize its AI agent technology.
As the competition in the AI agent market intensifies, Amazon's acquisition could turn the tide for Adept while also supporting Amazon's ambitions in the AI sector. The regulatory stance on such talent and technology acquisitions remains unclear, but regardless of the outcome, this collaboration will have a profound impact on the AI industry.