AWS unveils $100mn program to boost generative AI initiatives

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing $100 million in a program to support generative AI initiatives, as it aims to stay competitive in the fast-paced artificial intelligence landscape. 

In a blog post, the Amazon cloud unit revealed its intention to fund companies interested in utilising the potential of generative AI. This move aligns Amazon with its counterparts, Google and Microsoft, who are also actively involved in advancing this technology. 

The AWS Generative AI Innovation Center aims to enhance enterprise innovation and success through generative AI by investing $100 million. The centre will foster connections between AWS-affiliated data scientists, strategists, engineers, and solutions architects with customers and partners. Its primary objective is to accelerate the adoption of generative AI within enterprises. 

According to the blog post, AWS views the generative AI program as a means to introduce artificial intelligence to its global customers and partners. The program also presents an opportunity for companies interested in exploring the potential of generative AI and its impact on their operations. 

The senior vice president of Sales, Marketing, and Global Services at AWS, Matt Garman, said, “The Generative AI Innovation Centre is part of our goal to help every organisation leverage AI by providing flexible and cost-effective generative AI services for the enterprise, alongside our team of generative AI experts to take advantage of all this new technology has to offer.” 

The launch of Generative AI Innovation Center comes months after the company initiated a 10-week program for generative AI startups and introduced Bedrock, a platform for building generative AI-powered apps using pre-trained models from various sources. 

According to TechCrunch, Salesforce's VC division plans to invest $500 million in startups working on generative AI technologies. OpenAI, the company responsible for the popular chatbot ChatGPT, has also established a $175 million fund to support AI startups. Additionally, Dropbox recently launched a $50 million venture fund with a focus on AI.