Amazon Q and the new era of AI for business

Artificial intelligence is the story of the year in the tech industry, and it was the big theme inside the annual Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference in Las Vegas this week. On a new episode of the GeekWire Podcast, AWS VP of Product Matt Wood (above) talks about the rise of generative AI this year, including some surprise twists along the way:

• The enthusiasm from customers for AI this year is on par with the excitement that Amazon saw for the cloud in the early days of AWS.

• Regulated industries like healthcare, finance and insurance have been able to quickly adopt generative AI due to years of regulations establishing data privacy, governance and quality standards, allowing streamlined application of data to AI models.

• Natural language text like notes fields, previously seen as unstructured waste, are now viewed as valuable data sources due to generative AI's increased ability to understand and use them.

Wood also discusses Amazon Q, the company’s new AI assistant for work. After we recorded the episode, the newsletter Platformer reported Friday that some Amazon employees are raising concerns about accuracy and privacy issues involving Amazon Q. Amazon downplayed and denied the claims.

Listen and read more here, or subscribe to the GeekWire Podcast in Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

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