Amazon reportedly developed a new generative AI model, named Olympus, capable of processing images and videos in addition to text. The new AI model is expected to improve customer search capabilities on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Previously, Amazon launched generative AI models that competed in the text-to-text space.
Citing a person with direct knowledge of the matter and two people who have spoken with Amazon about its plans, The Information reports that the development could reduce Amazon’s reliance on AI startup Anthropic, in which the tech giant e-commerce has invested billions. The company invested $4 billion in Anthropic this year.
What are the capabilities of the Amazon Olympus AI model
According to news agency Reuters, The Information’s report states that Olympus will be able to understand scenes from images and videos, allowing customers to search for specific scenes using simple text prompts. For example, a customer could search for “winning basketball shot” and the AI would be able to identify and retrieve relevant videos, the report adds.
Amazon could officially unveil Olympus at next week’s AWS re:Invent customer conference, a flagship event for its cloud computing division. Anthropic’s Claude chatbot, a feature on AWS, is among the tools Amazon is looking to complement with its proprietary technology.
Another OpenAI competitor, Google
The introduction of Olympus will likely position Amazon as a competitor to Google, Microsoft and OpenAI in the generative AI race. The creator of ChatGPT was the first company to introduce a multi-model AI model capable of taking photos, videos and text as input. Google followed with an announcement during Google I/O where it showcased the model as part of Project Astra.