Amazon Agi Labs Chief Defends His Reverse Acquihire

In Brief

When Amazon hired nan founders of AI startup Adept past year, it was 1 of nan first examples of what became known arsenic reverse acquihires — deals wherever a ample institution hires cardinal startup squad members and licenses its technology, alternatively than acquiring nan startup outright.

Adept’s co-founder and erstwhile CEO David Luan subsequently became the caput of Amazon’s new AGI Lab, and while Luan’s caller interview pinch The Verge is ostensibly focused connected Amazon’s imagination for AI agents, newsman Alex Heath besides asked him astir the reverse acquihire trend.

“So I hope, successful 50 years, I’m remembered much arsenic being an AI investigation innovator alternatively than a woody building innovator,” Luan said. But from his perspective, it’s “perfectly rational” for companies for illustration Amazon to “put together captious wide connected some talent and compute correct now.”

As for why he was consenting to time off his startup for Amazon, Luan said he wasn’t willing successful turning Adept into a “an endeavor institution that only sells mini models” — he wanted to lick “the 4 important remaining investigation problems near to AGI.”

“Every azygous 1 of them is going to require two-digit billion-dollar clusters to spell tally it,” he said. “How other americium I […] going to person nan opportunity to spell do that?”

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