Amazon VP Karthik Ramakrishnan, Key to Alexa Development, Steps Down Amid Senior AI Departures

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the best NASDAQ stocks to buy according to hedge funds. On September 27, Amazon Vice President Karthik Ramakrishnan, who was involved in the development of artificial general intelligence/AGI, stepped down from the company after 13 years of service. Ramakrishnan was a member of the team responsible for creating the Alexa voice assistant and Echo devices.

His prior professional experience includes roles at Netscape and Tellme Networks, the latter of which was later acquired by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT). Ramakrishnan’s departure is the latest in a series of exits among Amazon’s senior AI leadership. Other recent departures include Vasi Philomin, who oversaw generative AI projects, and Jon Jones, who led AWS’s startups and venture capital division.

The resignations occur while Amazon is aggressively increasing its investment in AI to remain competitive with rivals such as OpenAI and Google. Amazon has invested ~$8 billion in Anthropic, the developer of the Claude model. Claude powers certain features of Amazon’s Alexa and an internal chatbot known as Cedric.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) engages in the retail sale of consumer products, advertising, and subscription services through online and physical stores in North America and internationally.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.