Amazon has lured co-founders and some of its workforce away from AI company Adept.
In the past, many have criticized Microsoft for acquiring an AI company by effectively absorbing its management and most of its workforce rather than acquiring it. Now the same thing an act Amazon with an AI startup called Adept.
To Amazon Verified Because all of the co-founders of Adept, as well as a large portion of the employees. The San Francisco-founded startup has so far raised $410 million in capital, and is valued at more than $1 billion. In March, Microsoft acquired Inlfection AI in a similar way, with a $650 million licensing fee also part of the “deal.”
Of course, this type of business attracts the attention of the authorities, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States of America has indicated that they are investigating the matter due to suspicion that they want to circumvent exclusivity requirements.
Adept says it will continue to operate independently, but will receive licensing fees from Amazon to use its technology, so some business functions will be automated.
Amazon is investing heavily in AI, wanting to catch up with Microsoft, OpenAI and Alphabet. Alexa is also being revamped, and has been fully integrated with AI, so it can answer even complex requests in almost complete sentences.