Inside Amazon’s Model Factory: From Chatbots to Agents

This interview features Rohit Prasad, Senior Vice President and Head Scientist for Artificial General Intelligence at Amazon, discussing Amazon's AI initiatives. Prasad details his journey leading to his current role, highlighting the development of Alexa and the current focus on foundational AI models like the Nova family. He emphasizes the shift from chatbots to AI agents capable of performing tasks, integrating diverse knowledge sources, and ensuring reliability. The conversation covers Amazon's partnership with Anthropic, the importance of model choice on the Bedrock platform, and the internal adoption of AI across various Amazon businesses, including advertising, fulfillment centers, and software development. Prasad also touches on the trade-offs in model development and the importance of customization for specific use cases. The interview concludes with audience questions about Nova Sounding, internal adoption metrics, and the potential for an Amazon house bug.