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Amazon is shutting down most of its AI lab work and focusing on robots instead

Amazon's AI models are being put on hold while the company redirects its energy toward AI for robots, after spending heavily on text and image tools that didn't impress.

AIGenerated · Written by AI from the sources listed below
A blue Yaskawa industrial robot arm on display, showcasing advanced technology and robotics.
A blue Yaskawa industrial robot arm on display, showcasing advanced technology and robotics. File picture · Photo: Freek Wolsink / Pexels

The Nova models go on ice

Amazon's AI efforts have struggled to keep pace with competitors. While OpenAI has ChatGPT, Anthropic has Claude, and Google has Gemini, Amazon's most well-known AI offering — Nova — is virtually unknown outside tech circles 1.

The company has now decided to place most of its AI models in a "keep the lights on" status, according to Bloomberg, which cited Amazon insiders 1. This means the text-based Nova models, along with video- and image-generating tools, are still technically supported but will receive only the bare minimum computing resources and staff needed to stay operational .

The decision follows growing frustration over how much energy and money these large language models — powerful AI systems trained on massive amounts of text and code — consumed without delivering the results Amazon expected 1.

A new direction: robots

Instead of competing head-on with OpenAI and Google on general-purpose AI, Amazon is concentrating its efforts on what insiders call a "frontier-model effort" led by Pieter Abbeel 1. Abbeel is the director of the Berkeley Robot Learning Lab at UC Berkeley and previously founded the robotics company Covariant, which Amazon acquired in 2024 .

Covariant builds AI models designed to help robots understand and interact with physical objects — a skill that would be enormously valuable for Amazon's massive warehouse operations and delivery logistics 1. This pivot signals that Amazon sees more practical value in AI that can move boxes and drive trucks than in AI that can write essays or generate images .

Another AI office closes

The restructuring comes just a week after Amazon closed one of its key research offices in San Francisco 1. The 80-person site was specializing in artificial general intelligence, or AGI — the theoretical next stage of AI development where machines would match human-level reasoning and problem-solving skills .

Whether AGI will ever become a reality remains deeply uncertain, and analysts suggest Amazon may be stepping away from the current AI hype cycle before investing even more money into tools that aren't paying off 1.

The company's struggles extend beyond models: Amazon recently canceled an AI-generated animated series after receiving intense criticism from viewers and critics alike 1.

What this means

Amazon isn't leaving AI entirely — it's still a major player through its cloud division, AWS, which rents AI computing power to other companies 1. But its own consumer-facing AI ambitions appear to be pausing as the company recalibrates toward applications that align with its core business: moving physical goods around the world .

This story reports on a trend for information only. It is not advice or encouragement to do any of it.

Key facts

  • Amazon is placing most of its Nova AI models on minimal support while redirecting resources to robotics AI
  • Pieter Abbeel, whose Covariant robotics company Amazon acquired in 2024, is leading the new frontier-model effort
  • Amazon closed an 80-person San Francisco AI research office focused on AGI just days before the restructuring news
  • Amazon's AI-generated animated series was canceled after widespread criticism

Sources

  1. Amazon Is Gutting Its AI Division After Sustained Failure — futurism.com

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