Amazon’s AI Strategy Leverages E-Commerce Blueprint for Future Dominance

Amazon is applying the same principles that helped it dominate e-commerce—low prices, wide selection, and convenience—to its burgeoning AI business, Fortune reports.

At its AWS Re:Invent conference in Las Vegas this week, the company unveiled a key element of this strategy: a portfolio of in-house foundation models called “Nova,” designed to handle text, image, and video queries.

Amazon’s move is part of a broader effort to position itself as a major player in the AI landscape, a field currently dominated by competitors like Google, OpenAI, and Meta. While Amazon has already invested heavily in Anthropic, the maker of the Claude AI models, it is betting that enterprises will prefer a variety of AI tools rather than relying on a single provider.

A cornerstone of Amazon’s AI strategy is the expansion of its Bedrock Marketplace, which now offers access to 100 AI models from various providers. Businesses can use these models for a range of applications, from general-purpose AI to specialized tasks. This echoes the structure of Amazon’s e-commerce platform, where third-party sellers complement Amazon’s own inventory.

“Finding and evaluating these models can be challenging and costly,” Amazon explained in a blog post.

Bedrock Marketplace simplifies the process by offering a single interface to access these models, enhancing convenience for enterprise customers.

Amazon’s focus on affordability mirrors its approach in retail. CEO Andy Jassy highlighted that the Nova AI models are “75% more cost-effective” than competitors. Independent AI researcher Simon Willison confirmed that Amazon’s pricing is competitive with Google’s Gemini models, noting on social media platform Bluesky that Amazon has now positioned itself among the top AI model providers.

Amazon’s strategy draws clear parallels to its e-commerce success. Just as Amazon Marketplace became a key driver of its retail dominance by offering a wide range of products at competitive prices, the Bedrock Marketplace aims to do the same for AI. Analysts believe this approach could future-proof Amazon’s status as a tech giant and silence critics who claim it is trailing in the AI race.