Amazon cuts jobs in its artificial general intelligence group

SAN FRANCISCO, July 22 (Reuters) – Amazon on Wednesday cut jobs in its artificial general intelligence group, marking the latest in a series of smaller reductions across the company since a much larger one in January.

Artificial general intelligence is a hypothetical AI ‌system that surpasses human intelligence and can learn, grow and operate autonomously. Many of the top AI companies are working to develop similar systems, with the hope of deploying them to solve difficult problems.

“We’ve been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we’re working on,” said an Amazon spokesman following a Reuters inquiry. “We’re sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers, so we can move faster on what counts. That focus means some difficult decisions, including eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization.”

Rohit Prasad, a top Amazon executive overseeing AGI, left the company at the end of last year and the head of its AGI Lab, David Luan, left in February. AGI work was consolidated under senior vice president Peter DeSantis in December as part of a larger group that also includes silicon development and quantum computing.

Employees under Adeeb Shanaa, vice president of artificial general intelligence data services, and Vishal Sharma, vice president of AGI information, reported being impacted by the cuts on online forums on Wednesday. However, the full scope of the cuts could not immediately be learned.

Amazon cut 16,000 jobs across the company in January.

(Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Kirsten Donovan)