“Amazon Pioneers the Wild West of AI Models, Invites Customers to Craft Their Own!”

“Amazon Has New Frontier AI Models—and a Way for Customers to Build Their Own”

“A handful of companies like Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft have hoarded most of these digital models, which are used to power everything from Google’s online translations to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. Now Amazon wants to democratize the process of training and deploying them to the cloud.”

Yes, folks, you read that right. Big tech is now playing ‘Robin Hood’, only instead of stealing from the rich, they appear to be taking from themselves and giving to…well, themselves mostly, and maybe also anyone else willing to pay for the privilege.

Enter Amazon and its impressive-sounding Nova, a cleverly packaged operation which it claims will “democratize the process of training and deploying” artificial intelligence models to the cloud. But don’t be fooled by the buzzwords and jargon – it’s mostly a shrewd business strategy.

Sure, Nova promises to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning within the reach of a wider audience. And heck, it even vows to let people generate their own 3D digital duplicates. But let’s not kid ourselves, these aren’t sparkling acts of benevolence aimed at levelling the tech playing field.

Drill down a little deeper and one stumbles upon the stark reality of the play at hand. Amazon isn’t just building a digital utopia where everybody gets a slice of the AI pie. They also plan to own the digital marketplace where the pie is sold. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it’s shrewd business. But calling it a “democratization” might be missing the point slightly.

Think of it as renting a piece of land. Amazon is graciously offering businesses the chance to set up shop there, but just because someone can rent a shop doesn’t make them the landlord. At the end of the day, it’s still Amazon’s playground.

So yes, the idea that AI could be accessible to companies of all sizes holds promise, as long as one is aware of the underlying reality. It’s less about the democratization of AI and more about Amazon’s characteristically cunning way to capitalize on the gold mine that is AI, with Nova as their trusty miner’s pick.

Plenty of benefits are there to reap, no doubt. The technology is impressive, and the concept of broadening access to digital models has a certain allure. But, like all things glittering, everyone should recognize the shimmer for what it truly is: a savvy marketing move, a gold-plated opportunity for Amazon to maintain a stranglehold on its digital dominion. Ain’t tech grand?

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-nova-forge-ai-models/