Amazon launches new R&D group focused on agentic AI and robotics
Tech giant Amazon plans to launch a new group within its consumer product division that will focus on agentic AI.
Amazon announced this new research and development group at an event on Wednesday, according to reporting from CNBC. This group will be based out of Lab126, Amazon's hardware R&D division that is behind tech including the Amazon Echo and the Kindle.
The reason this agentic AI group is likely based at a hardware R&D center is that Amazon hopes this group will develop an agentic AI framework to use in the company's robotics efforts and to give the company's warehouse robots more skills.
TechCrunch reached out to Amazon for more information.
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/05/amazon-launches-new-rd-group-focused-on-agentic-ai-and-robotics/
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Video shows crane delivers Jeff Bezos' furniture to penthouse after billionaire closes down 5th Ave
Must be a perk of Prime. A stretch of Fifth Avenue was closed for a massive delivery to Jeff Bezos' sprawling NoMad penthouse, according to a mind-blowing video shared on TikTok. A huge piece of wrapped furniture dangled from a rope as a crane last week slowly hoisted it above the intersection of Fifth Avenue and 26th Street, which was lined with caution tape, barricades, machinery and moving company trucks. 4 Dozens of workers milled about, directing traffic and joining passersby in watching as the item neared the top of 24-story 212 Fifth Ave., where Bezos reportedly owns five apartments spanning the top four floors worth $119 million. Raffi Arslanian, the owner of luxury candle company Thompson Ferrier, caught the commotion on camera Saturday. 'You want to see how Jeff Bezos delivers his furniture? Let me show you,' said Arslanian, whose office is a block away. 'I think we all can relate to this,' he joked. 'Now back to reality, where, when we move, we get a U-Haul and we do it ourselves, or at best, we get a company to do it — but we don't close the street,' Arslanian quipped. His video has garnered more than 970,000 views and thousands of comments, some speculating about what giant object the crane was transporting. 4 4 'It's a hot tub,' said one commenter. A grand piano, suggested another. Others were more interested in how much the operation cost. 4 Large-scale moves using cranes can cost upwards of $20,000 a day, according to reports, and require permits to shut down the streets. 'Amazon prime delivery, billionaire subscription,' one TikToker joked. 'We would all do the same if we had 100 billion dollars,' another remarked. Bezos, worth an estimated $223 billion, according to Forbes, between 2019 and 2021 plucked up one unit after another in the former office tower overlooking Madison Square Park.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
15 of the very best early Prime Day deals on Amazon Canada, according to shopping experts
Amazon Prime Day 2025 doesn't return until July, but Canadians can already score hundreds of epic Prime Day-worthy deals on Amazon Canada. Weeks out from the annual shopping bonanza, the retailer has launched hundreds of deals for the early-bird-gets-the-worm crowd. Among Amazon's best weekend deals are smartwatches, headphones, Father's Day gifts, coffee machines and cleaning essentials. As Amazon's Deals Store can be notoriously overwhelming, I've gone ahead and hand-selected 15 of the best Amazon deals you can shop for this weekend. I've organized them by discount and included reviews and ratings so that you can get a sense of why they're good — and, importantly, if they're worth your hard-earned cash. 88% off: YKYI Electric Spin Scrubber Take 75% off: Operan Water Flosser Save 70%: Cordless Vacuum Cleaner 70% off: Monster Persona SE ANC Active Noise Cancelling Headphones 58% off: Amazon Echo Buds Save 52%: HOSHANHO 16-Piece Knife Set 51% off: Retinol Eye Balm Stick with Bakuchiol Take 50% off: ECOVACS DEEBOT N30 Omni Robot Vacuum and Mop 42% off: Keurig K-Iced Single Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker 41% off: Nespresso Vertuo Pop+ Coffee and Espresso Machine by Breville Take 35% off: Philips Sonicare 4100 Power Toothbrush 31% off: TP-Link AC1900 WiFi Extender Save 28%: Botanic Hearth 100% Pure Rosemary Oil 21% off: Apple Watch SE (2nd Gen) Take 20% off: BLUEAIR Air Purifier Cordless spin scrubber with eight replaceable brush heads and two adjustable cleaning speeds. 690+ 4.7 stars : Rechargeable oral irrigator : 30+ : 4.1 stars 80,000PRM stick vacuum with two powerful suction modes and a 40-minute runtime. 30 4.9 Noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones with 60 hours of playtime. 20 4.5 stars Wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation and Alexa. 560+ 3.6 stars Japanese high-carbon stainless steel knives with a knife block and sharpener. 130+ 4.4 stars : Under-eye balm for dark circles and puffiness : 10,000+ : 4 stars Powerful 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop boasting 10000Pa suction, TruEdge Adaptive Edge Mopping, ZeroTangle 2.0 Technology and hot air-drying. 300+ 4 stars : Keurig coffee maker that can brew both iced and hot coffee : 1,600+ : 4.4 stars Versatile Nespresso coffee machine that brews six cup sizes: Ristretto, Espresso, Double Espresso, Gran Lungo, Mug/Coffee and Alto. 940+ 4.4 stars : Rechargeable electric toothbrush : 45,800+ : 4.4 stars : Wifi extender that covers up to 2,800 and 35 devices : 16,000+ : 4.3 stars Popular hair growth oil infused with biotin, jojoba and castor oil. 15,000+ 4.2 stars Apple smartwatch with a bevy of health and safety features, fitness metrics, Siri functionality and more. 50+ 4.5 : Small air purifier that removes at least 99.97 per cent of airborne particles down to 0.1 microns : 5,400+ : 4.4 stars
CNBC
4 hours ago
- CNBC
China's grueling ‘996' work culture is being debated by European startups — 7 founders and VCs on why they are resisting
The European startup scene was recently shaken by a LinkedIn debate with some venture capitalists applying pressure on founders to embrace a culture of overwork to compete on a global stage. The "996" work culture reigns supreme in China and has been adopted by various tech giants including Jack Ma's Alibaba and Bytedance's TikTok, but the system has also been the subject of much protest in recent years. Tech workers in Europe told CNBC in 2021 that they're turning down job offers, rejecting interviews, or even quitting their roles, upon learning of TikTok's 996 work culture. Sebastian Becker, general partner at Switzerland-based VC company Redalpine added to the debate on LinkedIn by addressing the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has called for removal of the legal work limit of eight hours per day in Germany in a bid to increase efficiency, while keeping the 40-hour week. Becker said Merz' proposal doesn't go far enough, as "40 hours a week won't cut it." "In Silicon Valley, 60-70 hour weeks aren't the exception — they even have a term for it: 996 — 9am to 9pm, six days a week... we can have the same amount of smart, ambitious people, but if we're consistently being outworked, we won't win," Becker said. Index Ventures Partner Martin Mignot in London explained on LinkedIn that 996 originated in China and has "quietly become the norm" at startups internationally. Part of the reason behind this most recent push is that there's a persistent view that Europe's tech and startup scene is lagging behind the U.S. and China, both of which have produced tech giants and are known for intense work cultures. However, Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, told CNBC Make It that these views are outdated as Europe has produced deca-corns in recent years— companies worth more than $10 billion including Klarna, Revolut, Wise, and The continent has yet to produce a trillion-dollar tech firm like Nvidia. "The European tech market and ecosystem is keeping up today with the U.S. and Asia... back in the 1980s the European tech scene was behind the tech scene on the West Coast of the US, but that's not the case now," Chandratillake said in an interview. The calls for Europe to adopt the 996 work culture sparked a wave of backlash. CNBC spoke with seven European startup founders and VCs on why they disagree. The obsession with China's 996 or Silicon Valley's 24/7 work culture emerges from a glorification of hustle culture in the startup landscape, founders and VCs said. "It's about a fetishization of overwork rather than smart work…it's a myth," Chandratillake said. "California is very good at telling stories and there's a lot of mythmaking around the concept of what startups look like…. there is hard work involved but if you really spend time in that ecosystem, you will discover that lots of people work really hard, but there are also periods where they don't work." Nina Mohanty, a Silicon Valley native and founder of London-based Bloom Money, said there are actually "lasting effects and unintended consequences" to adopting an aggressive overwork culture, "You only have to think about Revolut and the culture that they have is probably the closest that we've seen in Europe to the 996 culture, and they struggled," Mohanty told CNBC. "Their churn rate was incredibly high within their team, and they even struggled to get their banking license, and their culture was actually cited as one of those reasons." For its part, Revolut told CNBC it operates in a "high-growth, high-performance environment." "In line with this, we've evolved how we support our people: through value-based behaviours, structured development, and a culture that's collaborative, challenging, and built for scale," a spokesperson from Revolut said. Noa Khamallah, general partner at Don't Quit Ventures, pointed out that there's "no need for 996" and that these values are often at odds with both the European mindset and regulation. "Europe's most successful companies — from Spotify to SAP to ASML — didn't achieve dominance through overwork but through sustainable innovation cultures," Khamallah said. He offered the examples of Silicon Valley's Uber and Meta, both companies that expanded into Europe and faced massive regulatory pushback. "These examples reveal how Silicon Valley's 'move fast and break things' ethos often breaks against European values around worker rights, privacy, and sustainable business practices," Khamallah said. An always-on culture decreases retention and creates a revolving door of talent, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, told CNBC. "Overwork today is a productivity crisis tomorrow," Wernér said. "Personally, I hope my competitors are doing 996. It makes poaching great people a lot easier when they decide they've had enough." Dama Sathianathan, a senior partner at Bethnal Green Ventures said it's unhelpful to "prescribe" working hours, especially if it means putting workers' wellbeing at risk. "Optimizing labor doesn't always lead to better productivity, or help with differentiating from other companies long-term, if you've made work devoid of meaning," Sathianathan explained. Meanwhile, the youngest generation at work are less likely to put up with overworking and tend to prioritize work-life balance. Jas Schembri-Stothart, founder of Luna, a health and wellness app for teen girls, said 996 will drive young talent away from European startups. "People may tolerate overwork for a while, but eventually it leads to churn and even resentment, especially with Gen Z and younger millennials, there's much less tolerance for toxic hustle cultures," Schembri-Stothart said. Founders insist that instead of increasing working hours, startups need more funding and resources to position themselves as key players in the global startup scene. "What Europe really needs isn't more hustle-porn it's more aggressive funding," Wernér said. "With the right level of capital, our startups can hire enough talent to work intensely without breaking themselves. If a team of 10 is burning out to keep up with a 50-person U.S. VC or Chinese government-backed startup, the problem isn't their stamina, it's their cap table." In fact, since 2015 Europe's tech startups have missed out on nearly $375 billion in growth-stage funding, with founders losing out on a potential $300 billion in European investments, according to Atomico's State of European Tech report published in 2024. Additionally, one in two companies raising funding turn to the U.S. for capital rather than Europe. "What European startups really need is access to the right resources — funding, talent, and support — to grow, innovate quickly, and scale effectively," Schembri-Stothart said. "The venture landscape in the U.S. is a different ballgame altogether, and it's tough to compete with that without a stronger ecosystem here. Founders acknowledged that the startup life requires intense hustle and grind, but it's a more nuanced picture than just adopting 996. Timothy Armoo, co-founder and former CEO of Fanbytes, an influencer marketing firm that he sold for eight figures in 2022, told CNBC that he's a "huge supporter" of this new 996 push, but admitted that timing is key. "I think there are seasons but I also think that if you are a first-time founder or if your primary goal is basically wealth creation, I'll be very candid, if this is your season, and you're stepping back, then you're not serious about it," he said. Armoo said there are no excuses because AI allows entrepreneurs to be maximally efficient as it can reduce certain time-consuming manual tasks. Meanwhile, Bloom Money's Mohanty, said that when she's not sleeping, she's working. "I think early stage teams tend to almost unknowingly or without actually saying it, work the 996 life, because when you are early stage, you just have to hustle harder with less, and especially if you're the founder, you're always on and always working, and it can be very, very difficult to turn off." Schembri-Stothart draws the line at exploiting her team to produce more work. "It's my choice to work at the weekend, but I'd never expect that on my team, it's definitely not glorified to push your teams to breaking point. Silicon Valley tech exec Dion McKenzie warned that expectations of a 996 culture could make VC funding even more out of reach for early-stage startups. "My fear is that as these new norms and trends become the status quo and benchmarks for getting funded, it excludes so many brilliant founders that value their mental health and/or can't commit to a 996 due to caregiving responsibilities or being a parent," Mckenzie said.
