Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Oracle are pouring record capital into artificial‑intelligence infrastructure, data‑center expansion and related technologies. Amazon’s projected spend tops the list, followed closely by Google, while Microsoft, Meta and Oracle trail behind. Investors are uneasy about the size of the commitments, noting sharp stock declines for firms with the highest projected outlays. The clash between massive AI‑related capex and market comfort highlights a tension that could shape the industry’s future as companies race to secure compute resources. Leer más →

Recent coverage highlights a growing trend of "AI-washing," where firms attribute workforce reductions to artificial intelligence despite lacking mature AI projects. The New York Times raised the question, noting that companies like Amazon and Pinterest have blamed AI for cuts that may stem from other issues such as pandemic‑era over‑hiring. A Forrester report warned that many announced AI‑related layoffs lack vetted AI applications, while Brookings senior fellow Molly Kinder called the AI excuse a "very investor‑friendly message." The phenomenon raises concerns about transparency and the true impact of AI on employment. Leer más →

Amazon is reportedly negotiating a major investment of at least $50 billion in OpenAI, which is seeking $100 billion in new funding that could lift its valuation to $830 billion. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is leading talks with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, while OpenAI also explores capital from sovereign wealth funds and tech giants. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter, highlighting Amazon’s deep ties to the AI sector through its AWS partnership with Anthropic and a new $11 billion data‑center campus in Indiana. Leer más →

The entertainment industry has increasingly adopted generative AI tools, from de‑aging actors to automating visual effects. While the technology promises cost savings, recent experiments by major studios have produced underwhelming results. Disney, Netflix, Amazon and other giants have entered partnerships and licensing deals with AI firms like OpenAI, yet the output often falls short of audience expectations. Legal concerns over copyright‑trained models have also spurred lawsuits, highlighting the tension between innovation and intellectual‑property rights. Critics argue that the current wave of AI‑driven content adds little artistic value and primarily serves bottom‑line pressures. Leer más →

Amazon is reportedly in preliminary discussions to invest as much as $10 billion in OpenAI, a deal that would see the AI lab using Amazon's AI chips. The potential agreement could value OpenAI at more than $500 billion. The move follows Amazon's earlier $8 billion investment in Anthropic and its recent launch of the Trainium chip series. OpenAI's shift to a for‑profit model has opened the door to new partnerships beyond its long‑time backer Microsoft. The proposed investment would add to a series of circular deals linking AI startups with hardware and cloud providers. Leer más →

Amazon is in advanced discussions with OpenAI about a $10 billion investment that would also see the AI startup adopt Amazon's Trainium chips and increase its use of Amazon Web Services. The proposed deal could lift OpenAI's valuation past $500 billion while deepening the company's reliance on Amazon's cloud and hardware infrastructure. At the same time, OpenAI continues to expand relationships with other technology partners, including Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and AMD, prompting investors to scrutinize the circular nature of its financing and compute arrangements. Leer más →

Google, Amazon, and Elon Musk's xAI are each advancing projects to place artificial intelligence capabilities in low‑Earth orbit. Google’s Project Suncatcher aims to power orbital compute nodes with solar energy, Amazon’s Leo seeks to integrate AI with its satellite internet constellation, and xAI is exploring orbital training farms. Proponents argue space‑based AI could lower latency, ease terrestrial power constraints, and broaden connectivity for remote users. However, challenges such as launch costs, radiation shielding, and orbital traffic remain significant hurdles as the tech giants move from concept to implementation. Leer más →

Amazon executives highlighted the rapid growth of the company’s Trainium AI chip line, noting that Trainium2 is already generating multi‑billion‑dollar revenue with over a million chips in production and more than 100,000 customers. The chip’s price‑performance edge has attracted major partners such as Anthropic, which is using hundreds of thousands of chips for its Project Rainier. At AWS re:Invent, Amazon unveiled the next‑generation Trainium3, promising four‑times the speed and lower power usage, underscoring Amazon’s ambition to challenge Nvidia’s dominance in the AI‑hardware market. Leer más →

Amazon announced a new service called AI Factories that lets large enterprises and governments run AWS AI workloads inside their own data centers. The offering combines Amazon’s cloud software stack with Nvidia hardware, allowing customers to choose between Nvidia’s latest Blackwell GPUs or Amazon’s Trainium3 chips. AI Factories are positioned as a solution for data‑sovereignty concerns, giving organizations full control over data and hardware while still accessing AWS services such as Bedrock and SageMaker. Similar private‑cloud moves are also being pursued by Microsoft. Leer más →

Amazon Web Services introduced three new AI agents—Kiro, Security Agent, and DevOps Agent—designed to operate autonomously for extended periods. Kiro, a coding specialist, learns a team’s workflow, follows spec‑driven development, and can persist context across sessions. Security Agent independently identifies and proposes fixes for code vulnerabilities, while DevOps Agent handles testing and performance validation. AWS CEO Matt Garman highlighted the agents’ ability to take on complex backlog tasks with minimal human oversight, marking a significant step toward AI‑driven software development. Leer más →

Amazon announced a new suite of frontier artificial intelligence models—Nova Lite, Nova Pro, Nova Sonic and Nova Omni—at its re:Invent conference. Alongside the models, the company introduced Nova Forge, a tool that lets cloud customers add their own data at various stages of model training to create specialized versions. Early adopters such as Reddit, Booking.com, Sony and Nimbus Therapeutics are testing the service. Amazon claims the Nova 2 Pro model matches or exceeds leading competitors on benchmark tests, positioning the offering as a customizable alternative for businesses seeking domain‑specific AI capabilities. Leer más →

Amazon has blocked OpenAI's ChatGPT from accessing its site, preventing the AI's new Shopping Research agent from scraping product pages, prices, and reviews. The move underscores a clash between the dominant retailer and emerging AI shopping tools that could reshape how consumers discover and purchase items online. Industry observers note the decision may force brands to adapt their sites for AI visibility, while competitors see an opening to challenge Amazon's market dominance. Leer más →

Jeff Bezos and tech entrepreneur Vik Bajaj have expanded their new AI venture, Project Prometheus, by acquiring the San‑Francisco‑based startup General Agents. The acquisition brings General Agents’ real‑time computer‑pilot technology, called Ace, and its team—including co‑founder Sherjil Ozair—into the Bezos‑backed effort to develop advanced AI systems for manufacturing and other industries. Project Prometheus, which already employs over 100 staff and has secured billions in funding, now integrates the speed‑focused capabilities of Ace as it pursues broader AI‑driven automation goals. Leer más →

Perplexity has introduced a new AI shopping feature that lets users search for and purchase products directly through its assistant. The service, free for U.S. users, integrates PayPal for instant purchases and tailors recommendations using personal context. Merchants retain full visibility over customers and post‑purchase relationships. The rollout mirrors similar moves by OpenAI and Google, while Amazon has issued a cease‑and‑desist over Perplexity’s ability to complete Amazon purchases via its browser. Leer más →

Amazon has introduced its Autonomous Threat Analysis (ATA) system, an AI‑driven platform that uses multiple specialized agents to hunt for vulnerabilities, test attack techniques, and propose defenses. Born from an internal hackathon, ATA operates in realistic test environments, validates findings with real telemetry, and requires human approval before changes are applied. The system has already generated effective detections, such as new Python reverse‑shell defenses, and aims to free security engineers for more complex work while expanding into real‑time incident response. Leer más →

Amazon has filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, alleging that the startup’s AI‑powered browser, Comet, circumvents Amazon’s terms of service by automating purchases on the retailer’s site. The dispute highlights a broader industry concern known as the “DoorDash problem,” where AI agents could bypass the customer‑relationship layers that service platforms rely on for revenue. Perplexity defends its approach as a user‑agent right, while executives from Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other firms weigh in on the potential impact of agentic AI on their businesses. The clash raises questions about the future of e‑commerce, advertising, and platform control in an AI‑driven web. Leer más →

Amazon is rolling out AI-generated "Video Recaps" for select Prime Video series, allowing viewers to quickly refresh their memory on plot and characters. The feature builds on the company’s earlier text‑based X‑Ray Recaps and Kindle Recaps, combining short clips, narration, dialogue, music and sound effects into a concise video summary. Users can access recaps via a new Recaps button, which may display either a text‑based or video recap depending on availability. The beta currently includes titles such as Fallout, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Upload, Bosch and The Rig, while some critics warn of potential misrepresentation similar to concerns raised about Kindle Recaps. Leer más →

Jeff Bezos has taken on the role of co‑CEO at Project Prometheus, an AI‑driven startup focused on improving manufacturing for computers, automobiles and spacecraft. The venture, backed by $6.2 billion in funding that includes Bezos’s own capital, is led alongside co‑founder Vik Bajaj, a former Google X physicist and ex‑Verily executive. Project Prometheus already employs nearly 100 staff, drawing talent from OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta. The move marks Bezos’s first formal operational position since stepping down as Amazon’s chief executive in 2021 and coincides with his continued interest in Blue Origin, which recently achieved a successful New Glenn booster landing. Leer más →

AI chatbots and e‑commerce giants are racing to let consumers hand off shopping tasks to virtual agents, but current prototypes require extensive user input, operate slowly, and often produce errors. OpenAI, Google, Amazon and others are negotiating data‑sharing and fee structures with retailers while testing limited‑scope features such as instant checkout for Walmart items and AI‑filled checkout forms. Industry executives acknowledge that true “agentic” shopping experiences remain elusive, leaving shoppers to manage most of the process themselves this holiday season. Leer más →

Spotify has introduced Recaps, an AI‑generated summary feature for audiobooks that helps listeners catch up after pausing. Available in iOS beta for select English titles, the tool activates after the first 20 minutes of listening and provides a spoiler‑free overview of what has been heard. The feature sits alongside Spotify’s $12 subscription, which includes 15 hours of audiobook streaming from a catalog of over 500,000 titles, and mirrors similar efforts from rivals such as Amazon’s Story So Far and Audible offerings. Leer más →