Dive Brief:

• Amazon is leaning into generative AI to improve customer experiences on its own platforms and help AWS clients build next-generation apps. These investments will help drive tens of billions of dollars in revenue for AWS in the coming years, according to CEO Andy Jassy on a Q3 earnings call last Thursday.
• AWS customers including GoDaddy and United Airlines are creating generative AI-powered apps. 
• “As you can tell, we're focused on doing what we've always done for customers, taking technology that can transform customer experiences and businesses," Jassy said. "But they can be complex and expensive, and [we’re] democratizing it for customers of all sizes and technical abilities.”

Dive Insight:

All of Amazon’s “significant businesses are working on generative AI applications to transform their customer experiences,” Jassy said.

This strategy includes the launch of product review highlights that provide AI-generated summaries of multiple customer reviews from the Amazon marketplace, offering a quick overview of key features and common sentiments regarding an item.

Next-generation AI is also expanding Alexa’s conversational capabilities. Amazon has added the ability to handle multiple requests at once, and the personal assistant can now handle more conversational requests, reducing the need to use specific phrases when activating the device, according to Jassy. 

Amazon is improving its supply chain through better inventory forecasts and last mile transportation optimization for delivery drivers using AI. These advancements will build on top of the company’s shift from a single national fulfillment network to eight distinct regions. 

The company is on pace to set a new record for fastest average delivery speed for Prime members in fiscal 2023, which Jassy sees as an important component in the overall customer experience.

“A good example is the significant growth we're seeing in consumables and everyday essentials,” Jassy said. “When customers are getting items as quickly and conveniently as they are now from Amazon, they're going to consider us more frequently for more of their shopping needs.”

Amazon’s investments in generative AI also support customer experience efforts for companies that use AWS. United Airlines has built an automated machine learning-based document processing pipeline that streamlines verification of passports and other forms of ID, making it quicker for customers to get on their flight. 

“It's worth remembering that customers want to bring the models to their data, not the other way around, and much of that data resides in AWS as the clear market segment leader in cloud infrastructure,” Jassy said. “We're innovating and delivering at a rapid rate and our approach is resonating with customers.