Amazon Web Services (AWS) have publicized that it is commencing a 10-week AWS Generative AI Accelerator to accelerate its artificial intelligence (AI) attempts. The initiative provides access to AI funds, materials, mentorship, and $300,000 in AWS credits.
To many, the timing of this AI program signals a reactive and frantic measure to the recent preponderance of Open AI's ChatGPT. For others, it is a mere coincidence and is not.
For the past few months, Amazon has been working on further development in the AI space. Although with Alexa, similar to other AI-connected digital assistants like Apple's Siri and Google's Assistant, Amazon had an early foray into that ecosystem, they have been seemingly left behind today.
A tech enthusiast tweeted lately, "Alexa has fallen short of Amazon's goal of creating the next big tech platform in tech. A sentiment that had grown since ChatGPT set the tech world ablaze when it came out in Nov 2022."
It is difficult to disagree with such a statement. ChatGPT gained more than a million users a week after its launch. It currently receives an estimated 10 million daily queries and has been used by more than 100 million people globally.
What's more? This chatbot has only been in existence for over two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer software app in history.
Some industry insiders believe that the company's superpower is in the suite of AWS applications that play an integral role in the Internet's work.
Anish Mitra, the former VP of Growth at Goldman Sachs, said, "What Amazon is realizing is that any successful AI-based business will need a ton of computing power. Alexa has become essential in people's lives, capturing 60% of the market." She further added, "It's crucial for Amazon to improve it further, especially since advanced AI tools are not yet widely used by everyday consumers."
To her, AI tools haven't been able to fully cater to a larger demographic of the world. She alleges that AI usage is mostly limited to the top 5-10% of white-collar workers. However, this could change over time.
Amazon aims to invest more in user-friendly platforms to enable developers to fashion sophisticated models and generate huge profits moving forward. It has already begun, with some investments in its cloud computing platform towards the growth of AI. In addition, its e-commerce arm utilizes AI, mostly as regards recommendation engines and inventory management.
Although Alexa is Amazon's most popular AI platform, it also acquired and utilized Orbeus, a visual recognition AI and Harvest.ai, a cybersecurity AI, within the last decade. Now, it has launched the Amazon accelerator program to assist early-stage startups with everything they need to grow and scale up as fast as possible, using Generative AI.
Rob Ferguson, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Startups at AWS, said, "We're inviting generative A.I. startups across the globe to submit their application for the program. We'll evaluate applications based on target market, market fit, depth of machine learning native product integrations, and team compositions as it relates to diversity and technical/non-technical leadership."
The plan is for ten startups to be chosen to engage in the program, with industry experts to mentor them through the complexities of AI development.
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