Amazon is reportedly investing heavily in the development of a large-scale language model (LLM) named Olympus.
According to Reuters, the tech giant is pouring millions of dollars into the project to create a model with a staggering 2 trillion parameters. For comparison, OpenAI's GPT-4 is estimated to have around 1 trillion parameters.
This move puts Amazon in direct competition with the likes of OpenAI, Meta, Anthropic, and Google. The team behind Amazon's efforts is led by former Alexa head Rohit Prasad, who now reports to Andy Jassy as CEO.
As Amazon's chief scientist for artificial general intelligence (AGI), Prasad has unified the company's AI efforts. He brought in researchers from the Alexa AI team and Amazon's science division to collaborate on training the model, and he aligned Amazon's resources toward this ambitious goal.
Amazon's decision to invest in developing its own model stems from the idea that having its own LLM could make its services more attractive, especially on Amazon Web Services (AWS). .
Businesses using AWS are always looking for the best-performing models, and Amazon's move is aimed at meeting the growing demand for advanced AI technology.
Amazon has not disclosed a specific timeline for the release of Olympus models, but insiders say the company's focus on training larger AI models means it will remain at the forefront of AI research and development. This suggests that the company is emphasizing its commitment to continuing to operate.
Training such large-scale AI models is an expensive endeavor, primarily because it requires large amounts of computing power.
Amazon's decision to invest heavily in LLM is part of the company's broader strategy, as made clear during its April earnings call. During the conference call, Amazon executives announced that they will increase investment in LLM and generative AI while reducing spending on retail fulfillment and transportation.
Amazon's move signals the beginning of a new chapter in the race for AI supremacy, as major companies race to push the boundaries of technology.
(Photo by ANIRUDH on Unsplash)
See also: OpenAI introduces GPT-4 Turbo, platform enhancements, and price reduction
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