Amazon is no stranger to the world of artificial intelligence (AI). The online giant recently announced the availability of multiple AI tools that will compete against other major technology companies who have already released their own such solutions for consumers.
ChatGPT, an AI language processing tool has recently garnered worldwide recognition due to its capabilities to execute tasks like writing emails and computer code within a matter of seconds. On Thursday, Swami Sivasubramanian, the Vice President of Data and Machine Learning at Amazon Web Services revealed the e-commerce behemoth’s two latest AI products namely Bedrock and Titan to the public.
Bedrock will provide access to text and image AI models while Titan will contain two large language models that can accomplish tasks such as writing posts, extracting info from documents, and creating personalized applications for search.
The multilingual language models of Bedrock will be able to generate texts in a total of 6 different languages namely Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, and Dutch. Amazon will also be making its AI coding product, CodeWhisperer, free for individual developers. CodeWhisperer was first introduced last year and was put to the test in a productivity challenge. The results of the challenge showed that CodeWhisper users completed tasks 57% faster and had a 27% higher success rate than those who didn’t use it.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy stated in a shareholder letter that the firm was investing significantly in large language models and generative AI. He commented that “It’s only been the last five to ten years that it’s started to be used more ubiquitously by companies. This shift was driven by several factors, including access to higher volumes of compute capacity at lower prices than was ever available.”
Amidst the current economic situation, AI development seems to be a glimmer of hope for technology companies. Microsoft- the owner of the AI language processing tool ChatGPT- plans on integrating it into search engine Bing and browser Edge. Google is introducing Bard, an experimental conversational AI service to its search engine. Similarly, Meta’s CEO and other executives are focusing on rolling out AI capabilities for its advertisers by the end of the year.
These AI advancements have also been met with skepticism from some experts, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, who recently signed a petition asking for a six-month moratorium on all AI developments. This, to allow the public to consider the effects of AI on jobs and the flow of information globally.
A study by Goldman Sachs’ Chief Economist Jan Hatzius and other senior analysts claimed that generative AI systems could have “potentially large macroeconomic effects” and lead to “significant disruption” in the labor force across the world. Most of the jobs that AI could potentially replace are related to administrative support and legal, thereby leaving positions in building and grounds maintenance, logistics, construction, and healthcare relatively unscathed.
