Amazon has announced a commitment of up to $230 million to support startups developing AI-driven generative applications. With approximately $80 million allocated to the second AWS Generative AI Accelerator program, this significant investment aims to position AWS as the preferred cloud infrastructure for startups creating generative AI models for their products, applications, and services.
A substantial portion of the new funding, including the entirety of the amount designated for the acceleration program, will be provided as computing credits for AWS infrastructure. These credits are not transferable to other cloud service providers such as Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
To enhance the program, Amazon is ensuring that startups in this year’s cohort of the Generative AI Accelerator will have access to experts and technology from Nvidia, the program’s presenting partner. In addition, these startups will be invited to join the Nvidia Inception program, which offers opportunities to connect with potential investors and access additional consulting resources.
The Generative AI Accelerator program has experienced significant growth. Last year’s cohort, composed of 21 startups, received up to $300,000 in AWS computing credits, totaling an investment of approximately $6.3 million.
“With this new effort, we will help startups launch and scale world-class businesses, providing the building blocks they need to unleash new AI applications that will impact every aspect of how the world learns, connects, and does business,” said Matt Wood, vice president of AI products at AWS.
Amazon’s increasing investment in generative AI technology includes initiatives such as the $100 million AWS Generative AI Innovation Center, free credits for startups using leading AI models, and its Project Olympus framework. These efforts come as Amazon seeks to level up with tech giants in the rapidly growing and competitive generative AI space. Although Amazon claims that its generative AI businesses have reached “multiple billions” in run rate, the company is often seen as lagging behind.
AWS initially planned to unveil its generative AI model similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with the codename Bedrock, at its November 2022 annual conference. However, significant errors delayed the launch, turning Bedrock into Amazon’s model hosting service. Despite Amazon’s PR team’s dispute, the delay highlights some challenges.
The Alexa division has encountered its own issues, including technical difficulties and internal conflicts, as reported by Fortune’s Sharon Goldman. Despite a high-profile press demo of a “next-generation Alexa” nine months ago, the updated version is still not ready for release due to insufficient training data, inadequate access to training hardware, and other obstacles.
Amazon also missed early investment opportunities in leading AI startups like Cohere and Anthropic. After being rejected by Cohere, Amazon co-invested $4 billion in Anthropic alongside Google. This co-investment reflects Amazon’s efforts to stay competitive in the AI startup investment landscape.
Adding to these challenges is the recent departure of Howard Wright, head of AWS startups, who managed relationships with startups. Additionally, Amazon faces growing scrutiny from regulators regarding Big Tech investments in AI startups. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into Microsoft’s support for OpenAI and Google and Amazon’s investments in Anthropic. European lawmakers have also expressed skepticism towards these deals, adding another layer of complexity to Amazon’s generative AI ambitions.
Referrer: MiMub in Spanish
