Amazon’s (AMZN) Cloud Unit Bleeds Generative AI Chief Amid Fierce Talent Wars

Big Tech's brain drain accelerates as AWS loses its AI visionary.

The generative AI arms race just got messier—Amazon Web Services watched its top AI strategist walk out the door this week. No surprise—when Nvidia’s printing money and OpenAI’s hoarding PhDs, even trillion-dollar giants struggle to retain talent.

Wall Street’s reaction? A collective shrug. Because nothing says 'innovation' like watching FAANG stocks trade sideways while crypto devs build autonomous economies in their basements.

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Vasi Philomin has reportedly left Amazon for another company, though which company has not been made public. Philomin had spent eight years at the e-commerce giant where he helped lead generative AI efforts and product strategy at Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud unit.

Amazon has confirmed Philomin’s departure and said that Rajesh Sheth, a vice president who previously oversaw Amazon’s Elastic Block Store, has assumed some of Philomin’s previous responsibilities. Philomin lead Amazon Bedrock, a hub for using multiple AI models and one of AWS’ main products. He was a frequent speaker at AWS events, including Amazon’s annual cloud computing conference in Las Vegas.

Poaching Talent

The departure of a key AI executive is a blow to Amazon as the company tries to boost its reputation in AI development and compete against rivals such as privately held OpenAI and Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL). Amazon has invested $8 billion in AI start-up firm Anthropic and integrated its Claude software into its own products including a revamped version of its voice assistant Alexa.

The loss of Philomin also comes as technology companies increasingly poach each other’s AI talent, luring people with multi-million compensation packages and other perks. Meta Platforms (META) has recently been accused of spending millions to try and draw employees away from OpenAI and other competitors.

AMZN stock has declined 1% this year.

Is AMZN Stock a Buy?

AMZN stock has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 48 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 47 Buy and one Hold recommendations assigned in the last three months. The average Amazon price target of $243 implies 11.85% upside from current levels.