Rohit Prasad, Amazon’s head of artificial general intelligence (AGI), will depart from the company next year as it reaches a pivotal moment in its development of AI technology, according to CEO Andy Jassy. Peter DeSantis, a senior vice president at Amazon Web Services, will assume leadership of a new division concentrated on advanced AI models, chip development, and quantum computing.
Prasad joined Amazon in 2013 and significantly influenced the development of the Alexa voice assistant. He also oversaw the launch of the Amazon Nova AI models and assumed leadership of the AGI team in 2023. In a recent interview, Prasad expressed skepticism regarding the effectiveness of various AI benchmarks, stating that they do not accurately reflect model performance. The Nova 2 AI model family, introduced earlier this month, has reportedly not matched the performance of competitors in some evaluations.
In recent years, there has been a perception that Amazon has been lagging behind other tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, Meta, and OpenAI. Additionally, advancements in Alexa’s AI capabilities have experienced delays and have not met initial expectations.
As DeSantis prepares to lead a larger team, AI researcher Pieter Abbeel will take charge of Amazon’s frontier model research group. CEO Jassy noted the potential opportunities ahead, emphasizing that the existing foundation, momentum, and DeSantis’s leadership position the company to deliver significant advancements for customers. This leadership restructuring occurs amid broader competitive pressures in the AI sector.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/846721/amazon-new-agi-leader-peter-desantis-rohit-prasad