Amazon shuts its AGI Lab, cuts jobs across AI unit

What's the deal? Amazon has closed its AGI Lab, a San Francisco team set up 18 months ago to build human-level AI, as part of layoffs across its AGI unit. The lab, launched in December 2024 with several dozen staff, worked to make AI agents more useful to businesses. The full scale of the cuts is not yet clear.

Why now? The exits came first. Rohit PrasadDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, who oversaw Amazon's AGI work, left at the end of last year, and David LuanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, who ran the lab, left in February. Amazon then folded its AGI work under Peter DeSantisDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, alongside its chip and quantum teams.

What Amazon says: The company frames the move as focus, not retreat. "We've been building large AI models for several years, and it remains one of the most important things we're working on," a spokesperson said, adding that Amazon is "sharpening our focus on the initiatives that matter most for customers."

That focus, it said, meant "eliminating some roles within parts of our AGI organization."

What led here? This is the latest in a rolling series of cuts since Amazon shed 16,000 jobs in January. Its own frontier models have made little dent, and its real strategy runs through AWSDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and infrastructure spending. Its biggest model bet is external, with tens of billions poured into AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.

The signal: Amazon is stepping back from a frontier-model race it never led, betting on selling AI rather than inventing the cleverest model. It reflects a wider industry pattern of firms trimming teams and pointing at AI. Where rivals chase general intelligence, Amazon is choosing to sell the picks and shovels.

Read more: The Next Web, The Information, CNBC