Amazon.com (AMZN.O) has successfully recruited cofounders and key team members from the artificial intelligence startup Adept, a strategic move to bolster its AI capabilities. This recruitment drive is similar to a previous one by Microsoft (MSFT.O), underscoring Amazon’s efforts to catch up in the AI race.
Adept announced in a blog post on Friday that its cofounder and CEO David Luan, along with several other cofounders and employees, have departed to join Amazon. Despite the departure, Adept will continue operating independently and has already appointed a new CEO. The San Francisco-based startup, which has raised over $410 million and is valued at over $1 billion, aims to maintain its trajectory with the remaining team.
The move mirrors Microsoft’s strategy in March, when it hired a significant portion of Inflection AI’s leadership and staff, coupled with a $650 million licensing fee. This deal is currently under scrutiny by the Federal Trade Commission for potentially bypassing merger disclosure requirements.
Adept will still function autonomously from Amazon, with Amazon paying a licensing fee to utilize some of Adept’s technology designed to automate business functions. The terms of this non-exclusive deal remain undisclosed.
Amazon’s investment in training a large language model, as reported by Reuters, reflects its ambition to compete with leading models from Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Alphabet (GOOGL.O). The integration of Adept’s team signals Amazon’s intent to advance in developing AI agents, a focal area for major tech labs.
In a parallel development, Amazon is working to update its Alexa voice assistant to fully incorporate generative AI, aiming for instantaneous and coherent responses to complex queries.
An Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the Adept employees have already joined the company, while approximately 20 Adept workers remain at the startup. Adept did not respond to requests for comment.
At Amazon, David Luan and several others will report to Rohit Prasad, who leads the artificial general intelligence (AGI) division. Others will join teams focused on developing devices and additional services. Prasad, formerly head of Alexa and now reporting directly to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, has integrated researchers from Alexa AI and the Amazon science team to work on training models, consolidating AI efforts across the company with dedicated resources.
Prasad stated in an internal memo that these new hires “will significantly help us on our quest to achieving AGI.”
Adept also engaged in discussions with other tech companies, including Meta (META.O), which ultimately decided against pursuing a partnership. Meta declined to comment on the matter.
