Amazon Bolsters AI Team with Adept Co-Founders and Employees
Amazon.com has made a strategic move in the world of artificial intelligence by hiring away key talent from startup Adept. The co-founders and some team members from Adept will be joining Amazon, in a bid to bolster the tech giant’s AI capabilities and dispel any notion that it is lagging behind competitors like Microsoft.
Adept, a San Francisco-based startup with a valuation over $1 billion, announced the departure of co-founder and CEO David Luan, along with other key employees, in a blog post on Friday. The move mirrors a similar tactic employed by Microsoft earlier this year, when it poached leadership and employees from Inflection AI.
The hiring of Adept’s talent by Amazon comes as the company ramps up its efforts in AI, particularly in the development of AI agents and tools. Amazon is reportedly investing in training a large language model to compete with models from Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet. The addition of Adept’s team members signals Amazon’s ambition to advance its AI capabilities in various areas.
According to reports, Amazon will pay Adept a licensing fee to use some of its technology, which focuses on automating business functions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed by an Amazon spokesperson. Adept will continue to operate independently of Amazon, with about 20 employees remaining at the startup.
Rohit Prasad, who oversees artificial general intelligence (AGI) at Amazon, will lead the new team of Adept hires. Prasad, formerly head of Alexa, has brought in researchers from the Alexa AI team and Amazon science team to work on training models for AGI. The goal is to achieve AGI, a significant milestone in the field of artificial intelligence.
Adept had also reportedly held discussions with other tech companies, including Meta, but ultimately decided not to pursue a partnership. Meta declined to comment on the matter.
Overall, Amazon’s move to hire talent from Adept underscores the company’s commitment to advancing its AI capabilities and staying competitive in the rapidly evolving tech landscape. With the addition of Adept’s team members, Amazon is poised to make significant strides in the development of AI technologies.
