Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is betting big on AI – and touts the technology as a 'big deal' for shareholders

• Amazon is making a big bet on generative AI, CEO Andy Jassy said in his annual shareholder letter.
• The technology is a "big deal" for the company, its customers and its shareholders, Jassy wrote.
• Amazon shares edged up 0.5% in premarket trading.

Amazon is betting big on generative AI, and believes the technology will be a "big deal" for its business going forward, CEO Andy Jassy said Thursday.

Jassy wrote in his second annual letter to shareholders that the tech giant will invest heavily in both generative AI and large language models (LLMs) — AIs trained on large sets of data so they can eventually create new, seemingly sophisticated content and text on their own.

"One final investment area that I'll mention, that's core to setting Amazon up to invent in every area of our business for many decades to come, and where we're investing heavily is Large Language Models and Generative AI," he said.

"I could write an entire letter on LLMs and Generative AI as I think they will be that transformative, but I'll leave that for a future letter," Jassy added.

"Let's just say that LLMs and Generative AI are going to be a big deal for customers, our shareholders, and Amazon."

Jassy also flagged headwinds facing Amazon Web Services, and told staff to return to the office for at least three days a week. He succeeded Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the company's CEO in July 2021.

Two of Amazon's fellow Big Tech giants, Microsoft and Alphabet-parent Google, have also announced major investments into generative AI this year.

Microsoft launched a new version of its Bing search engine powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT in February, while Google released its Bard AI chatbot to users in the US and UK last month.

Jassy will likely be hoping that Amazon's move into AI helps to boost the company's stock price, which tanked in 2022, his first full year in charge.

Shares are down 36% over the past 12 months, despite rebounding 16% in 2023 as part of a wider rally for tech stocks. They've rebounded as investors wagered the Federal Reserve would soon pause its interest-rate hiking campaign.

Amazon shares edged 0.5% higher in premarket trading on Thursday, and were changing hands at just over $98 ahead of the opening bell.

Read more: Microsoft, Google, and Baidu are putting the final touches on their answers to ChatGPT. Here's what they have planned and what it means for investors.