Amazon exec sees AI as opportunity, leans on ‘grit and innovation’ to meet surge

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As the interest in generative artificial intelligence (AI) reaches a crescendo, there are palpable fears that companies may not be able to meet the computing demands needed to integrate the technology into their existing processes.

Embroiled in a frantic adoption race, several enterprises are looking outward to cloud service providers to meet their growing demand for computing power. A chunk of these firms are turning to Amazon Web Services (AWS) (NASDAQ:AMZN) for computing solutions with the Amazon subsidiary recording a spike in recent months.

Prasad Kalyanaraman, VP of Infrastructure at AWS, confirmed the surge in the demand for its cloud services has been driven by the “hyperdrive” of generative AI since the tail end of 2022. While analysts point to a potential strain on AWS’s internal operations as it tries to meet growing demands, Kalyanaraman says the company is up to the task.

The head of Infrastructure disclosed that AWS is no stranger to skyrocketing demands since it launched in 2006, and the AI boom will only allow it to extend its market share. To satisfy the demands of its clients, Kalyanaraman noted that AWS will focus the bulk of its attention on innovation, finding novel methods to be efficient across all stages of its operations.

“Building the right technology, both in terms of consuming the least amount of power needed and optimizing all the way from the chip level to the data center level… requires a lot of innovation,” said Kalyanaraman.

Apart from innovation, the AWS executive says grit is another key ingredient needed to remain afloat amid stiff competition from Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Since 2022, the company has announced plans to establish new data centers across the globe but rather than taking an aggressive approach, AWS is pushing environmental sustainability. The company says its incoming data centers will be located away from residential and metropolitan areas while keeping an eye on affordable power sources.

Kalyanaraman disclosed that AWS will put a preference for renewable energy sources in line with its reputation of being the “largest purchaser” of renewable energy for four consecutive years.

“It’s a pretty significant undertaking to actually construct a data center from scratch,” said Kalyanaraman. “Every time we’ve actually had a constraint, we’ve all figured out a way of innovating.”

A wave of benefits

Despite the strains associated with AI’s demands, the emerging technology boosted Amazon to its largest quarterly operating profit in early 2024. In the first three months of the year, AWS recorded a staggering 25 billion in revenue, placing it on course for its most prolific year yet.

“We remain very bullish in AWS. We’re at a $100bn-dollar annualized revenue run right now, and this is before you even calculate generative AI. There’s a very large opportunity in front of us,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.

With blockchain technology, Amazon appeared rigid in its approach, opting to watch from the sidelines before jumping all in with AI.

In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.

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