OpenAI’s artificial intelligence models may soon play a role in running Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa and several other AI projects inside the e-commerce giant, according to a report by CNBC. The discussions are part of broader talks between Amazon and OpenAI that could include a major investment. Amazon is said to be considering investing up to $50 billion in OpenAI, though the details are not final and could still change. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are said to be directly involved in the talks.
As part of a potential deal, Amazon could gain access to OpenAI’s advanced AI models to strengthen its products. In return, OpenAI may use Amazon’s AI chips and computing power to support its own technology needs.
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For Amazon, working with OpenAI could help boost its AI efforts across the company. Alexa is a key focus, especially after Amazon released a revamped version of the 11-year-old assistant last year.
Amazon has described Alexa+ as ‘model agnostic,’ meaning it can rely on different AI models depending on the task. Anthropic’s Claude model currently handles many of Alexa+’s more complex requests, according to the report. Amazon has invested $8 billion in Anthropic, which is a direct competitor to OpenAI.
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Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s top Alexa executive, told CNBC this week that most Alexa traffic is still handled by Amazon’s own Nova models. He said the company uses more than 70 different models and added that Amazon has a ‘great partnership’ with Anthropic and other model providers through its Bedrock platform.
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