Amazon is embarking on a major endeavor to develop a large language model (LLM) known as Olympus, with the ambition to rival OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Bard. This cutting-edge model is set to feature a staggering two trillion parameters, making it one of the largest models ever created.
Under the leadership of Rohit Prasad, former head of Amazon's voice assistant Alexa, the Olympus project is poised to reshape the AI landscape. Prasad, now Amazon's head scientist of artificial general intelligence (AGI), has assembled a team that amalgamates the expertise from Alexa AI and Amazon's science division to advance the development of AI models.
While Amazon has previously trained smaller AI models like Titan, the Olympus project represents a quantum leap in complexity. Though Amazon has not disclosed a specific release timeline for Olympus, it signifies a pivotal step in Amazon's journey to enhance its AI capabilities.
As training larger AI models entails substantial computing power and costs, Amazon's investment in LLMs and generative AI marks a shift in priorities, emphasizing innovation in AI while streamlining resources in its retail business.