By MICHAEL CIRCLE
The Data Group News Service
Amazon Web Services announced a $230 million commitment Wednesday to accelerate the development of generative artificial intelligence applications by startups worldwide.
The cloud computing division of Amazon.com Inc. said the funds will provide startups, especially those in early stages, with AWS credits, mentoring and education. This aims to further their use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
Part of the new funding will support the second cohort of AWS' Generative AI Accelerator program. It will provide up to $1 million in AWS credits and hands-on expertise to each of the top 80 early-stage startups using generative AI to solve complex challenges.
Applications for the accelerator open Wednesday and will be accepted until July 19.
"For more than 18 years, AWS has helped more startups to build, launch, and scale their business than any other cloud provider," said Matt Wood, vice president of AI products at AWS. "With this new effort, we will help startups launch and scale world-class businesses, providing the building blocks they need to unleash new AI applications."
Startups can use the AWS credits to access cloud computing, storage, database and AI chip technologies. The credits also apply to Amazon SageMaker for building and training machine learning models and Amazon Bedrock's tools for generative AI apps.
The accelerator's first cohort included 21 startups such as Leonardo.AI, which offers generative AI tools for creators.
"AWS has been instrumental in enabling us to scale our generative AI platform to meet the rapidly growing demand from our global user community," said Jachin Bhasme, co-founder and chief operating officer of Leonardo.AI.
To learn more about AWS and the startup initiative, please visit AWS-Announces-230-Million-Commitment-for-Generative-AI-Startups (aboutamazon.com).
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