In the most recent Big Tech arms race over artificial intelligence, Amazon wants investors to be aware that it will not be left behind. CEO Andy Jassy of Amazon (AMZN) wrote a letter to shareholders on Thursday stating that the company is “investing heavily” in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, the same technology that powers ChatGPT and other AI chatbots that are similar to it.
Amazon’s Next Moves
“All of us have been developing our own LLMs for a while now, suspect it will transform and improve virtually every customer experience, and will continue to invest substantially in these approaches across all of our consumer, seller, brand, and creator experiences,” Jassy stated in his letter to shareholders.
The remarks, which were included in Jassy’s second annual letter to shareholders since taking over as CEO, suggest that many tech companies are under pressure to explain how they can capitalize on the rapidly developing market for AI products. Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), and Microsoft (MSFT) have all emphasized their growing focus on generative AI technology, which can respond to user prompts to produce compelling essays, stories, and visuals. ChatGPT was made available to the general public at the end of November.
Jassy says that Amazon wants to make machine learning chips that are less expensive so that “small and large companies can afford to train and run their LLMs in production.” In order to respond to user prompts, large language models are trained on vast data sets.
Jassy also talked about leading Amazon through “one of the harder macroeconomic years in recent memory” in the letter. In recent months, the e-commerce giant cut 27,000 jobs as part of a major effort to cut costs.
Amazon revealed in a protections recording Thursday that Jassy’s compensation bundle last year was esteemed at some $1.3 million, and that the Chief got no new stock honors in 2022..
