Amazon Aims to Use AI to Help Robots Understand Natural Language Commands

Amazon said Wednesday (June 4) that its latest artificial intelligence (AI) projects are related to robots, last-mile delivery and supply chain optimization.

The company highlighted these efforts in a Wednesday post on LinkedIn.

In the case of robots, Amazon said its agentic AI team is developing an AI foundation model framework that will allow robots like the company’s Proteus to “understand natural language commands, reason about them, and act autonomously.”

For last-mile delivery, Amazon announced an initiative called Wellspring that aims to “dramatically improve precision of deliveries and the driver experience through the use of generative AI.”

The company also unveiled the latest AI foundation model powering its Supply Chain Optimization Technology (SCOT), according to the post.

“This model processes over 400 million items across 270 different time spans, fundamentally changing how the company forecasts and positions inventory in ways that benefit price, selection and convenience for customers,” the post said.

CNBC reported Wednesday that the agentic AI team working on the AI foundation model framework for robots is a new group within Amazon’s Lab126 hardware research-and-development unit, which created the Kindle, Echo and other devices.

Reuters reported Wednesday that Amazon is using generative AI to create more advanced maps that help its drivers make deliveries in challenging locations like large office complexes, apartment complexes and housing developments.

The firm also plans to use AI to predict customer demand for products based on price, convenience, weather and sales, thereby helping Amazon more efficiently cater to its customers, according to the Reuters report.

These reports follow some other recent announcements of AI-powered solutions from Amazon.

On March 31, the company launched an AI agent that can use a web browser to do things like shop for products and services on behalf of users. Call Nova Act, the AI agent can navigate, interact with and act on web content without constant human oversight.

In November, Amazon Web Services announced the Generative AI Partner Alliance, which is designed to give customers access to a network of systems experts and consulting firms to help them deploy generative AI solutions.

Amazon Ads debuted two AI tools in October, saying they are designed to help advertisers expand their reach by creating “engaging content across media types.”