What Did Amazon Do This Week?
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Amazon’s Spring Sale created a public news lull, but behind the scenes, AWS continued its relentless updates (just the 67(!) this week). While no major story because of the sales there are dozens of low-key updates that reinforce Amazon’s AI-first posture and ruthless operational discipline. Amazon continues slithering along, gobbling up things to get bigger and bigger.
AWS pushed out Quicksight upgrades via Amazon Q, firewall support for Amplify, and granular geography data. These backend changes tighten the stack and underscore a focus on developer productivity, compliance, and security. Amazon Science revealed new work on LLM training efficiency and a lightweight model for structured data. AI is no longer siloed in R&D—it’s becoming native infrastructure. A shift that is reflected in product rollouts. A generative AI shopping assistant is now in live testing, while Amazon Photos is embedding shopping links, turning personal content into retail context. Health ambitions took a hit with the exit of Chief Medical Officer Vin Gupta.
In retail, one early Amazon Fresh store closed as pickup and returns expanded to military sites. FBA support staff cuts signalled continued logistics optimisation. A new robotics-powered fulfilllment centre launched in North Carolina, while delivery drones still require human pilots, delaying full autonomy (also see story in ‘Interesting’ section). Indian regulators cracked down on warehouse operations, showing Amazon’s exposure in contested markets. Internally, Andy Jassy’s career advice read like an effort to maintain cultural cohesion.
Branding and AI converged as Amazon tested rebranding Echo Show as Alexa, while the Alexa Fund backed four new AI startups. In devices, Kindle added a double-tap gesture and Colorsoft screen improvements. MGM Studios head Jen Salke exited amid Prime Video delaying ‘CItadel 2’ and uncertainty around spinoffs. A teaser for Amy Sherman-Palladino’s "Étoile" arrived, and Amazon showed up hard at CinemaCon to hype tentpoles. Amazon’s gaming ambition advanced further with a multi-year Luna EA cloud deal.
SO WHAT?
When a sale is on, it’s not uncommon for Amazon to go quiet and keep everyone focused on buying. Amazon’s long-game is becoming legible. AI isn’t being hyped, it’s being operationalised—inserted deep into infrastructure, embedded into products, and deployed across consumer touchpoints. Few companies are executing this with Amazon’s breadth or consistency, and while not without issue, the hard AI push within AWS positions Amazon as the default backbone for enterprise AI. An area where competition just heated up because of Alphabet’s Wiz acquisition.
Content, by contrast, remains a drag. MGM is in flux. Prime Video lacks coherent narrative control. Without a content engine that can rival Netflix or even Apple’s pace, Amazon risks brand dilution in entertainment—especially with its gaming and franchise ambitions tied to cross-platform IP. Same drag in important markets. Regulatory pressure in India foreshadows likely tensions in other markets. Amazon’s scale invites intervention. Expect more operational friction globally, particularly where labor, data, and product standards are politically sensitive.
Momentum is quietly compounding. The quarterly story may look flat, but structurally, Amazon is locking in advantage across cloud, retail AI, and logistics. Any single update may look small. Together, Amazon is building a more robust (some may say terrifying) offering across the company.
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Zipline is giving Amazon a run for its money in the drone delivery department. /WSJ
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