Amazon CEO Andy Jassy expressed confidence in the future of generative AI, following the company's decision to roll back its cashierless checkout technology, Just Walk Out. In his annual shareholder letter, Jassy stated that he believes Amazon's most significant breakthroughs for customers will come from generative AI, particularly built on top of their cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). While Amazon has been seen as falling behind on AI, Jassy outlined the company's strategy to focus on building foundational AI models and selling them to enterprise customers. This approach has already attracted companies like Delta Air Lines, Siemens, and Pfizer. Although there has been an arms race among Big Tech companies to develop AI technology, companies are still struggling to integrate them into existing products.

Amazon has invested billions in generative AI, including a minority stake in Anthropic, a start-up valued at $4 billion. Amazon also recently appointed AI expert Andrew Ng to its board and committed significant funds to develop data centers for AI technology. However, Amazon's efforts to create consumer-facing AI products that resonate with customers have faced challenges. Its shopping assistant, Rufus, did not significantly improve the shopping experience, and the development of a more conversational Alexa assistant has been delayed. Despite a 25% rise in its stock price this year, Amazon is still recovering from pandemic-related overspending and has faced job cuts, including in the AWS division. Jassy anticipates further cost-cutting, especially in the fulfillment and logistics division, to increase efficiency while delivering faster service to customers.