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re:Amazon (and Everyone’s) Future

Inside re:MARS, the first public version of Bezos's annual ultra-secretive AI fest
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Francis Scialabba

less than 3 min read

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This week, Amazon’s putting on re:MARS, the first public version of an ultra-secretive AI conference Jeff Bezos has hosted for four years. My pass (worth $1,999) got lost in the mail, but here’s the lowdown, from robots galore to Marvel and the final frontier.

MARS=?

Amazon made some big announcements related to each letter of that “MARS” acronym. Today’s acrostic:

Machine learning: It's at the “foundation of everything Amazon does,” said Dave Limp, SVP of Amazon devices and services. Alexa’s getting better with freeform conversation and multitasking. And Amazon’s new “StyleSnap” app can make product recs from a photo (“Shazam for clothes,” as The Verge puts it).

Automation and Robotics: the cornerstone of Amazon’s logistics and fulfillment business. The company is rolling out new “Pegasus” and “Xanthus” warehouse robots. And its Prime Air drone—sensor-stocked, safety-optimized, and capable of hybrid flight—is out of stealth.

  • Amazon said it’s added 200,000 robotic systems globally...and 300,000 full-time workers in the same timespan.

Space: Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, which wants to put humans back on the moon, has a full replica of a tourist-shuttling space capsule on hand.

What about non-Amazon stuff?

Boston Dynamics is everywhere. Later this year, it’ll start selling its Spot robo-dog, which gave a toy to a real dog, opened a door, and somewhat embarrassingly sputtered on stage alongside the company’s CEO at re:MARS.

Because it’s all but impossible to tie the rest of the conference together, here are two ringers Amazon brought on stage Day 1:

  • Robert Downey Jr. gave a wide-ranging keynote about AI. He also introduced an initiative to clean up our planet with robots and FaceTimed with The Martian himself.
  • Disney execs showed off a video of their animatronic stunt double robot.

Zoom out

At a time when Amazon is taking flak for automating more of its business and Big Tech is under fire, re:MARS is an exercise in long-term optimism about our artificially intelligent future. For Amazon, that future is now. Just look at its voice assistant, warehouses, delivery vehicle prototypes, cloud business (the list goes on forever)...

Keep up with the innovative tech transforming business

Tech Brew keeps business leaders up-to-date on the latest innovations, automation advances, policy shifts, and more, so they can make informed decisions about tech.

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