Amazon Web Services has launched a generative artificial intelligence tool as it rivals Google-owned Bard and Microsoft-backed OpenAI in the fast-growing industry.
Amazon Q was announced at AWS’s re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.
It came almost one year after the start-up OpenAI launched its ChatGPT, which gained instant popularity for its use of generative AI, allowing it to produce human-like text in response to minimal input.
Amazon Q is focused on businesses and customers can get “fast, relevant answers to pressing questions, generate content and take actions” based on their information repositories.
It aims to enable employees to streamline tasks, and accelerate decision making and problem solving.
The tool can also customise its interactions with different users based on an “organisation’s existing identities, roles and permissions”, AWS said.
“Amazon Q builds on AWS’s history of taking complex, expensive technologies and making them accessible to customers of all sizes and technical abilities,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of data and AI at AWS.
“By bringing generative AI to where our customers work … whether they are building on AWS, working with internal data and systems, or using a range of data and business applications … Amazon Q is a powerful addition.”
ChatGPT and Bard are two front-runners in the burgeoning field of generative AI.
In September, the Abu Dhabi government-supported research centre the Technology Innovation Institute launched Falcon 180B – an advanced version of its flagship language model – to boost generative AI in the region.
Investors have put more than $4.2 billion into generative AI start-ups in 2021 and 2022 through 215 deals after interest surged in 2019, recent data from CB Insights showed.
Globally, AI investments are projected to hit $200 billion by 2025 and could possibly have a bigger impact on gross domestic product, Goldman Sachs Economic Research said in a report in August.
Amazon Q’s preview version is available and many of its features are free.
But after the preview period, it will cost $20 a person each month for business users.
AWS chief executive Adam Selipsky said that prompts asked on Amazon Q and business customers’ content will not be used to train any foundation models.
According to the query, Amazon Q will provide concise responses that include citations and source links.
Amazon Q is currently available only for users of Amazon Connect – the company’s cloud contact centre that enables organisations to deliver better customer experiences at lower costs.
It will be soon available on other platforms including Amazon Supply Chain, which allows customers to monitor their supply chains.
“New Amazon Q capabilities help our analysts build dashboards in hours when it used to take days,” said Christoph Albrecht, data engineering and analytics consultant at car maker BMW, one of the early users of Amazon Q.
“We are seeing an even greater impact with our business users, where Amazon Q is accelerating critical business decisions at the highest levels.”
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
The Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
Mazen Abukhater, principal and actuary at global consultancy Mercer, Middle East, says the company’s Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index - which benchmarks 34 pension schemes across the globe to assess their adequacy, sustainability and integrity - included Saudi Arabia for the first time this year to offer a glimpse into the region.
The index highlighted fundamental issues for all 34 countries, such as a rapid ageing population and a low growth / low interest environment putting pressure on expected returns. It also highlighted the increasing popularity around the world of defined contribution schemes.
“Average life expectancy has been increasing by about three years every 10 years. Someone born in 1947 is expected to live until 85 whereas someone born in 2007 is expected to live to 103,” Mr Abukhater told the Mena Pensions Conference.
“Are our systems equipped to handle these kind of life expectancies in the future? If so many people retire at 60, they are going to be in retirement for 43 years – so we need to adapt our retirement age to our changing life expectancy.”
Saudi Arabia came in the middle of Mercer’s ranking with a score of 58.9. The report said the country's index could be raised by improving the minimum level of support for the poorest aged individuals and increasing the labour force participation rate at older ages as life expectancies rise.
Mr Abukhater said the challenges of an ageing population, increased life expectancy and some individuals relying solely on their government for financial support in their retirement years will put the system under strain.
“To relieve that pressure, governments need to consider whether it is time to switch to a defined contribution scheme so that individuals can supplement their own future with the help of government support,” he said.
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Company profile
Date started: December 24, 2018
Founders: Omer Gurel, chief executive and co-founder and Edebali Sener, co-founder and chief technology officer
Based: Dubai Media City
Number of employees: 42 (34 in Dubai and a tech team of eight in Ankara, Turkey)
Sector: ConsumerTech and FinTech
Cashflow: Almost $1 million a year
Funding: Series A funding of $2.5m with Series B plans for May 2020
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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