Amazon overhauls its AI strategy, winding down most flagship models

Amazon is overhauling its AI strategy, winding down galore in-house models, reorganizing teams, and focusing engineers connected a caller strategy to compete astatine the frontier, according to group acquainted pinch the matter.

The changes travel layoffs successful Amazon's Artificial General Intelligence, aliases AGI, statement past week and the shutdown of AGI Lab, a investigation group it created successful 2024 aft hiring astir of the squad down AI startup Adept.

The restructuring suggests Amazon is refocusing its AI strategy. Rather than investing crossed a number of text, image, and video models, the institution is concentrating engineering talent and scarce computing resources connected its highest priorities.

"KTLO"

Amazon has begun deprecating astir of its in-house flagship Nova models, including the high-end Premier and Omni models, Reel video-generation model, and Canvas image-generation model, according to group acquainted pinch the matter.

Some Amazon labor described these models arsenic operating successful "KTLO," short for "keep the lights on," an engineering word for package that remains supported for existing customers but is nary longer a awesome improvement priority.

FMR

According to the group acquainted pinch the matter, resources person progressively moved distant from the existing Nova models and toward a caller frontier-model effort led by interrogator Pieter Abbeel, who came to Amazon done the acquisition of AI robotics startup Covariant. Known internally arsenic Frontier Model Research, aliases FMR, the inaugural has go a apical privilege this year.

Under that effort, Amazon is processing a caller flagship instauration exemplary that is expected to debut astatine this year's re:Invent yearly conference, which typically happens successful the fall.

An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider the institution has agelong supported AI models successful accumulation for extended periods because customers dangle connected them, and said Amazon remains committed to investing successful frontier models.

"AI models stay 1 of the astir important things we're moving on, and that hasn't changed," the spokesperson said. "As pinch immoderate AI portfolio, we continually germinate our exemplary lineup based connected what customers need, and we ever supply customers clear guidance and migration paths arsenic models advance."

Job cuts and departures

The organizational alteration does not needfully mean Amazon is abandoning Nova altogether. The remaining Nova portfolio includes the Nova 2 Sonic and Nova 2 Lite instauration models, Nova Forge, a work for building and customizing models, and Nova Act, Amazon's AI supplier technology. Indeed, the caller exemplary that FMR is processing could look nether the Nova brand.

Instead, the displacement reflects a broader reorganization of Amazon's AI efforts that has unfolded complete the past year.

Amazon created its AGI statement successful 2023 to build instauration models and different technologies tin of powering early AI products crossed the company. Rohit Prasad, a longtime Alexa executive, led the statement until he departed successful December 2025.

The AGI statement oversaw respective specialized groups. One was AGI Lab, which Amazon established successful 2024 aft hiring AI startup Adept's cofounders and licensing its technology. Led by Adept cofounder David Luan, the laboratory focused connected semipermanent AI research. Luan near Amazon successful February, and the institution unopen down the AGI Lab past week arsenic portion of the latest reorganization.

Separately, Frontier Model Research was created wrong the AGI statement to create Amazon's adjacent procreation of frontier AI models. After Prasad's departure, Amazon tapped Abbeel to lead the group. People acquainted pinch the modulation said FMR has since go the organization's superior focus.

DeSantis narrows the focus

The broader AGI statement was besides reorganized. In December, Amazon placed it nether elder vice president Peter DeSantis, combining it pinch the company's silicon improvement and quantum computing organizations.

People acquainted pinch the modulation said DeSantis has pursued a much focused AI strategy than his predecessor. Under Prasad, Amazon pursued aggregate exemplary families spanning text, image, and video generation. DeSantis, however, has concentrated Amazon's engineering talent and computing resources connected a smaller number of frontier-model efforts, they said.

Employees said they person received small guidance astir the semipermanent early of Nova models, fueling uncertainty crossed the organization.

The layoffs amazed galore employees, the group said, because frontier exemplary researchers had agelong been among Amazon's astir prized method talent. Employees said AGI besides operated otherwise from the remainder of the company, maintaining abstracted leveling and compensation systems to compete much aggressively for AI talent.

The changes people a awesome displacement successful Amazon's AI ambitions. Just past year, AWS utilized its re:Invent convention to unveil Nova Omni 2 arsenic its flagship multimodal reasoning model. In 2023, CEO Andy Jassy personally championed AGI arsenic the squad that would build Amazon's most eager instauration models, prompting the creation of six caller investigation groups.

Less than 3 years later, the statement is retiring parts of its flagship Nova lineup and reorganizing astir a caller frontier exemplary effort.

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