Amazon’s AI Site Closure in San Francisco: Top Model Development Still in Progress

Amazon Shuts Down San Francisco AGI Site Amid Layoffs

Amazon has made the decision to close its San Francisco AGI site as part of recent layoffs within its artificial general intelligence organization. However, the company has stated that its frontier model research lab will remain operational.

The closure of the AGI site was confirmed by a company spokesperson following a report by The Information. Amazon’s frontier model research efforts will be led by Pieter Abbeel, a UC Berkeley professor who joined Amazon in 2024 as the company acquired the technology and team from Covariant, a robotics startup co-founded by Abbeel.

Established in December 2024, the AGI Lab initially consisted of several dozen employees who were formerly part of the startup Adept, including co-founder and CEO David Luan.

According to The Information, the team grew to approximately 80 members at its peak, but a number of Adept hires have since departed, including Luan. Amazon recently announced layoffs within the broader AGI organization.

Impacted employees will be given the opportunity to explore alternative roles within Amazon, with the company offering support throughout the transition process.

Despite the changes, Nova Act, a browser-agent model and service developed by the group, remains accessible on AWS and continues to be utilized by customers. AWS has been expanding its agentic AI offerings, such as Bedrock AgentCore and applications like Kiro, Quick, Continuum, and Transform.

These developments coincide with Amazon’s significant investments in aiding customers in deploying AI solutions, including a $1 billion initiative by AWS to embed engineers with businesses developing AI agents. This strategic focus underscores the industry-wide shift towards maximizing the utility of agents and models for customers.