Amazon Trims AGI Team as It Sharpens AI Focus

Amazon confirmed Wednesday that it has cut a number of roles within its artificial general intelligence (AGI) unit, part of a broader cost-trimming effort even as the company continues to pour billions into AI development. The company did not specify how many employees were affected or which teams within the AGI division were hit. The unit is responsible for building large AI models, as well as work on custom silicon and quantum computing.

"This is a fast-moving space, and we're sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts," an Amazon spokesperson said. "That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization, even as we continue to invest in the areas most important to our customers' future." The layoffs, first reported by Reuters, come after Amazon has shed more than 30,000 jobs since last October, following a pandemic-era hiring surge.

The AGI unit sits at the heart of Amazon's strategy to compete with AI leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. In 2024, the group released a family of foundation models called Nova. Late last year, longtime cloud executive Peter DeSantis took over as head of AGI, replacing Rohit Prasad. In February, the unit lost David Luan, who had joined through the acquisition of his startup Adept. DeSantis acknowledged last month that Amazon's models "haven't been at the very frontier for the very largest, most demanding workloads," but said the company is working to build one of the "most capable intelligent models out there."

Source: CNBC