Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is making significant strides in the artificial intelligence sector, as revealed in its recent earnings call. The company's CEO, Andy Jassy, highlighted its multi-faceted AI approach and the potential impact on the market.
What Happened: Jassy emphasized Amazon's commitment to providing customers with a variety of AI solutions. This approach is central to the company's AI strategy, with a focus on Amazon Web Services.
"There is not one tool to rule the world," Jassy stated, underscoring Amazon's strategy of offering multiple AI solutions.
Central to this strategy is Amazon Bedrock, a service that Jassy claims "has the largest selection of models, the best generative AI capabilities in critical areas like model valuation, guardrails, RAG, and agenting."
Bedrock's recent additions include Anthropic's Claude 3.5 models, which Jassy described as "the best-performing models on the planet," as well as Meta Platforms Inc.'s (NASDAQ: META) Llama 3.1 and Mistral's Large 2 models.
At the application layer, Amazon is seeing strong adoption of Amazon Q, which Jassy called "the most capable generative AI-powered assistant for software development and to leverage your own data." This tool exemplifies Amazon's efforts to make AI accessible and practical for businesses.
While Amazon is developing custom silicon for AI workloads with its Trainium and Inferentia chips, it's important to note that the company maintains "a deep partnership with Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA)." Rather than directly challenging Nvidia, Amazon appears to be complementing its offerings while providing customers with more options.
Why It Matters: The unveiling of Amazon's AI strategy comes amid a series of significant developments for the company. Earlier this year, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk expressed astonishment at the sheer size of AWS, which reported a trailing 12-month revenue of $94.4 billion, surpassing 466 companies in the S&P 500 index.
However, Amazon's recent earnings call also highlighted some challenges. The company reported a decline in average selling prices (ASPs) as consumers shifted towards lower-priced items and everyday essentials. This trend reflects broader economic conditions and changing consumer preferences.
Moreover, Amazon's finance chief, Brian Olsavsky, attributed a disappointing revenue forecast to external factors such as the Paris Olympics and the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. These events have diverted consumer attention, impacting online shopping activity.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Amazon shares dropped nearly 8.8% to $167.95 in after-hours trading on Thursday. In the regular session, the company's shares were down 1.56% ending at $184.07, according to data from Benzinga Pro.