April 18, 2023
Amazon.com’s cloud computing division last week released a suite of generative AI tools that companies can use to create chatbots, generate and summarize text, and classify images based on a prompt. Rather than building AI models entirely itself, Amazon recruits third parties to host models on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
AWS’ new service, Bedrock, enables developers to build generative AI-powered apps based on pre-trained models from startups such as AI21 Labs, Anthropic, and Stability AI that can be accessed via an application program interface (API). Also available is access to Amazon’s first-party voice model called Titan.
Amazon, the world’s largest provider of cloud computing services, is taking a different approach than its closest competitors. Microsoft has invested $10 billion in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. Google has invested in AI startup Anthropic. Amazon also doesn’t yet have a consumer-centric AI tool like Microsoft and Google.
Amazon said access to multiple major language models will allow companies to customize their generative AI applications.
Beyond AI tools, AWS is promoting its in-house chips as a low-cost solution to support AI. Another feature, CodeWhisperer, which generates and fixes computer code, will be available to individual developers free of charge.
“Customers have told us that some big things are getting in their way today,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, AWS vice president of machine learning, in a blog post [foundational models] that deliver excellent results and are best suited for their purposes. Second, customers want integration with applications to be seamless without having to manage huge clusters of infrastructure or incurring high costs.”
“Most companies want to use these big language models, but the really good ones take billions of dollars in training and many years, and most companies don’t want to go through that.” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “So they want to build on a base model that’s already big and great, and then have the ability to customize it for their own purposes. And that is what Bedrock is.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Will generative AI change cloud computing? What do you think of AWS’ multiple LLMs (Large Language Models) approach to help companies customize generative AI applications in the cloud?
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“Will generative AI change cloud computing?”
