Key Takeaways:
Amazon is winding down most of its flagship Nova AI models and reorganizing its artificial general intelligence team around a single frontier-model effort led by a robotics researcher.
Amazon is deprecating most of its in-house Nova models — including the high-end Premier and Omni, the Reel video generator, and the Canvas image generator — as it consolidates engineering resources into a single frontier-model initiative called Frontier Model Research, or FMR.
"As with any AI portfolio, we continually evolve our model lineup based on what customers need, and we always provide customers clear guidance and migration paths as models advance," an Amazon spokesperson said.
The restructuring follows the departure of AGI head Rohit Prasad in December 2025 and the shutdown of AGI Lab, a research group Amazon created in 2024 after hiring most of the team behind AI startup Adept. David Luan, Adept's cofounder who led the lab, left Amazon in February. The company also conducted layoffs in its AGI organization last week. Employees described the deprecated models as operating in "KTLO" — short for "keep the lights on" — meaning they remain supported for existing customers but are no longer a development priority.
The shift marks a major strategic reversal for Amazon, which as recently as last year used its re:Invent conference to unveil Nova Omni 2 as its flagship multimodal reasoning model. In 2023, Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy personally championed AGI as the team that would build Amazon's most ambitious foundation models. Now, under SVP Peter DeSantis — who took over AGI in December and combined it with Amazon's silicon and quantum computing units — the company is betting its AI future on a single effort led by Pieter Abbeel, the researcher who joined through Amazon's acquisition of robotics startup Covariant. The new frontier model is expected to debut at re:Invent later this year.
FMR Becomes the Priority
Frontier Model Research has become the primary focus within Amazon's AGI organization since Abbeel took over, according to people familiar with the matter. The initiative is developing a new flagship foundation model that could still launch under the Nova brand. Amazon's remaining Nova portfolio includes the Nova 2 Sonic and Nova 2 Lite foundation models, Nova Forge for custom model building, and Nova Act, the company's AI agent technology.
The reorganization reflects a broader shift in Amazon's AI strategy under DeSantis, who has pursued a more focused approach than his predecessor. Under Prasad, Amazon pursued multiple model families spanning text, image, and video generation. DeSantis has concentrated engineering talent and scarce computing resources on a smaller number of frontier-model efforts, people familiar with the transition said.
What the Pivot Means for Amazon's AI Ambitions
The changes come as Amazon faces intensifying competition from Microsoft, Google, and Anthropic in the race for frontier AI capabilities. Microsoft recently moved to add Anthropic's AI models to its platform, signaling a deepening rift with OpenAI, according to a report. Apple is also revamping its AI-powered Siri, with plans to launch in March 2026 powered by Google Gemini, another report said.
For Amazon, the strategic consolidation carries both risk and potential reward. By narrowing its focus, the company may accelerate development of a truly competitive frontier model — something it has struggled to achieve despite investing billions in AI research and infrastructure. AWS, Amazon's $100 billion-plus cloud business, has been losing the AI narrative to Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, which have more prominent partnerships with OpenAI and Google DeepMind, respectively.
Employees said they have received little guidance about the long-term future of Nova models, fueling uncertainty across the organization. The layoffs surprised many researchers who had been among Amazon's most prized technical talent, the people said. AGI had operated with separate leveling and compensation systems to compete more aggressively for AI talent.
Amazon shares, which trade at about 22 times forward earnings, have gained roughly 15% over the past 12 months, underperforming the Nasdaq 100's 20% gain. The success of the FMR initiative — and the new model expected at re:Invent — will be critical to determining whether Amazon can close the AI gap with its cloud rivals.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
