Amazon Recruits Founders from AI Startup Adept: A Strategic Move in Tech Innovation

Adept Licenses AI Technology to Amazon as Co-Founders Join E-Commerce Giant

Adept, a pioneering startup focused on creating AI-powered agents for software tasks, has struck a deal to license its technology to Amazon. This collaboration will also see several co-founders and team members transitioning to join the e-commerce powerhouse.

The news was first reported by GeekWire’s Taylor Soper, who revealed that Adept’s co-founder and CEO, David Luan, along with fellow co-founders Augustus Odena, Maxwell Nye, Erich Elsen, and Kelsey Szot, will be part of the move.

However, Adept is not shuttering its operations. Zach Brock, the head of engineering, is stepping up as the new CEO, aiming to pivot the company towards "solutions that enable agentic AI." In a recent blog post, Adept emphasized, “Our offerings will continue to leverage our cutting-edge in-house AI models, agentic data, web interaction software, and customized infrastructure.” The startup acknowledged that further pursuing its initial concept of building both a general intelligence product and an enterprise agent would demand extensive fundraising efforts, diverting attention from its core vision.

This licensing agreement provides Adept with a renewed opportunity, particularly as it had been in discussions with Meta and Microsoft regarding a potential acquisition in recent months, the latter having previously invested in the startup.

For Amazon, this deal brings valuable talent and technology that enhances its generative AI strategy. According to reports from GeekWire, Luan will operate under Rohit Prasad, former head of Alexa, who is now leading a new Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team dedicated to developing large language models. In a memo to employees, Prasad noted, “David and his team’s expertise in training state-of-the-art multimodal foundational models and creating real-world digital agents aligns perfectly with our goal to provide consumer and enterprise customers with effective AI solutions.” He added that the licensing agreement would expedite Amazon's efforts to produce digital agents capable of automating software workflows.

Founded just two years ago, Adept aimed to develop an AI model capable of performing tasks on any software tool using natural language. The overarching goal, similar to initiatives by OpenAI, Rabbit, and others, was to create an “AI teammate” trained to utilize diverse software tools and APIs efficiently.

Adept successfully attracted high-profile investors such as Nvidia, Atlassian, Workday, and Greylock, raising over $415 million and attaining a valuation of about $1 billion. Despite its achievements, Adept has faced internal challenges, losing two co-founders, Ashish Vaswani and Niki Parmar, early in its journey. The startup has struggled to launch any products despite lengthy testing phases.

The competition in the AI agent market has intensified since Adept's inception. Well-capitalized startups like Orby and Emergence are vying for a stake in this burgeoning sector, which market research firm Grand View Research estimates was valued at $4.2 billion in 2022.

However, the partnership with Amazon may boost Adept's prospects for success. Alternatively, with a significant portion of its executive team departing, Adept risks facing a fate similar to Inflection, another AI startup that was significantly weakened by a talent drain after Microsoft’s acquisition. As regulatory bodies grow increasingly cautious about such AI acquisitions, the future remains uncertain.

Stay tuned for unfolding developments in this rapidly evolving landscape.