Amazon hires AI startup Adept’s co-founders and team in strategic move

Amazon.com engaged away artificial intelligence startup Adept’s co-founders and a few of its crew in a move that reflects one by rival Microsoft, as it aims to combat a perception that it is playing catch-up in AI.

Amazon’s AI Recruitment Drive

Amazon has hired the co-founders and several key employees of artificial intelligence startup Adept, reflecting a strategic move to enhance its AI capabilities. This move echoes a similar strategy by rival Microsoft as Amazon aims to combat the perception that it is lagging in the AI race.

Departure from Adept

Adept announced in a blog post on Friday that co-founder and CEO David Luan, along with several other co-founders and employees, have left to join Amazon. Adept, based in San Francisco, has raised over $410 million and is valued at over $1 billion. Despite the departure, Adept has already appointed a new CEO and will continue to operate independently of Amazon.

Comparison to Microsoft’s Strategy

Amazon’s move mirrors Microsoft’s action in March, when it hired much of Inflection AI’s leadership and staff and agreed to pay approximately $650 million in licensing fees.

This deal has attracted regulatory scrutiny, with the Federal Trade Commission investigating whether it was an attempt to circumvent merger disclosure requirements.

Amazon’s Licensing Agreement

Also read: ZELLERFELD REVOLUTIONIZES FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY WITH CUTTING-EDGE 3D PRINTING TECH

Amazon will pay Adept a licensing fee to use some of its technology, which is designed to automate business functions. The terms of this non-exclusive deal were not disclosed by Amazon. Adept stated that it will continue to operate independently, despite the significant personnel shift.

AI Development Ambitions

Amazon is making substantial investments to develop an ambitious large language model, aiming to compete with top models from Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet.

The addition of Adept’s team signifies Amazon’s commitment to advancing AI agent tools, a focus area for major AI labs.

Integration with Alexa

Reuters reported that Amazon is racing to update its Alexa voice assistant to fully integrate generative AI, capable of responding almost instantaneously with comprehensive sentences to complex prompts or queries. This integration highlights Amazon’s push to enhance its AI-driven services.

Leadership and Future Steps

The newly hired Adept employees have already joined Amazon. David Luan and several others will report to Rohit Prasad, who oversees artificial general intelligence (AGI) at Amazon.

Other team members will join the division developing devices and additional services, according to an internal memo viewed by Reuters.

The strategic hiring of Adept’s team underscores Amazon’s determination to strengthen its position in the competitive AI landscape, leveraging the expertise and innovation of Adept’s founders and employees.