Amazon, the tech giant based in Seattle, has announced the addition of artificial intelligence visionary Andrew Ng to its board of directors. Ng, currently a managing director at the AI Fund in Palo Alto, California, will be taking the seat previously held by former MTV CEO Judy McGrath. Ng's AI Fund, established in 2017, focuses on investing in entrepreneurs developing artificial intelligence companies. With a background in leading AI teams at Baidu and Google, Ng is known for his work in teaching computer systems to recognize objects, such as cats in YouTube videos, without explicit instruction.

This move by Amazon comes at a time of intense competition in the AI sector, with startups and tech companies alike racing to innovate in this field. Amazon has been making significant investments in generative artificial intelligence, including a $4 billion investment in San Francisco-based startup Anthropic. This partnership aims to develop foundation models that will drive advancements in generative AI technologies. Amazon has also recently introduced new AI-powered products, such as the chatbot Q for businesses and the shopping assistant Rufus.

In his annual shareholder letter, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy highlighted the potential of generative AI to become a major pillar of the company's business, alongside its online marketplace, Prime subscription program, and AWS cloud computing unit. Jassy believes that generative AI could be the largest technological transformation since cloud computing and the internet itself.

However, not all of Amazon's innovations have been smooth sailing. The company recently announced it would be pulling its Just Walk Out technology from Amazon Fresh stores in the U.S. due to customer feedback. This technology allowed customers to skip the checkout line, but will now be replaced with smart carts that provide real-time spending information while still offering a convenient checkout experience. Despite this setback, Amazon remains at the forefront of AI innovation and is positioning itself for continued success in this rapidly evolving field.