Latest news with #DaveBrown
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon wants to become a global marketplace for AI
Amazon Web Services isn't betting on one large language model (LLM) winning the artificial intelligence race. Instead, it's offering customers a buffet of models to choose from. AWS, the cloud computing arm of Amazon (AMZN), aims to become the go-to infrastructure layer for the AI economy, regardless of which model wins out. By making customer choice a defining principle, AWS hopes to win out against rivals that have aligned closely with specific LLM providers — notably Microsoft (MSFT), which partnered with ChatGPT creator OpenAI ( 'We don't think that there's going to be one model to rule them all,' Dave Brown, vice president of compute and networking at AWS, told Yahoo Finance. The model-neutral approach is embedded into Amazon Bedrock, a service that allows AWS customers to build their own applications using a wide range of models, with more than 100 to choose from. Brown added that after Chinese startup DeepSeek surprised the world, AWS had a fully managed version of the disruptive model available on Bedrock within a week. Two years after its launch, Bedrock is now the fastest-growing service offered by AWS, which accounted for over 18% of Amazon's total revenue in the first quarter. It's why Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sees Bedrock as a core part of the company's AI growth strategy. But to understand the competitive advantage AWS hopes to offer with Bedrock, you have to go back to its origin story. Bedrock dates back to a six-page internal memo that Atul Deo, AWS's director of product management, wrote in 2020. Before OpenAI's ChatGPT launched in 2022 and made 'generative AI' a household term, Deo pitched a service that could generate code from plain English prompts using large language models. But Jassy, the head of AWS at the time, didn't buy it. 'His initial reaction was, 'This seems almost like a pipe dream,'' Deo said. He added that while a tool that makes coding easy sounds obvious now, the technology was 'still not quite there.' When that project, initially known as Code Whisperer, launched in 2023, the team realized they could offer the service for a broader set of use cases, giving customers a choice of different models with 'generic capabilities' that 'could be used as a foundation to build a lot of interesting applications,' according to Deo. Deo noted that the team steered away from doubling down on its own model after it recognized a pattern of customers wanting choice in other AWS services. This led to AWS becoming the first provider to offer a range of different models to customers. With this foundational approach in mind, Amazon renamed the project Bedrock. To be sure, the model-agnostic approach has risks, and many analysts don't consider Amazon to be leading the AI race, even though it has ramped up its AI spending. If there is ultimately one model to rule them all, similar to how Google came to dominate search, Amazon could risk further falling behind. At the beginning of the year, Amazon and its peers Meta (META), Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) expected to spend $325 billion combined, mostly on AI infrastructure. To keep pace, Amazon has hedged its bets with its own technology and one LLM provider in particular: Anthropic. In November 2024, AWS doubled its investment in Anthropic to $8 billion in a deal that requires Anthropic to train its large language model, Claude, using only AWS's chips. (For comparison, Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI.) The $8 billion deal allows Amazon to prove out its AI training infrastructure and deepen ties with one LLM provider while continuing to offer customers a wide selection of models on Bedrock. 'I mean, this is cloud selling 101, right?' said Dan Rosenthal, head of go-to-market partnerships at Anthropic. 'There are some cases where it's been very clear that a customer wants to use a different model on Bedrock for something that we just frankly don't focus on, and that's great. We want to win where we have a right to win.' Amazon also launched its own family of foundational models, called Nova, at the end of 2024, two years after the launch of ChatGPT. But competition and expectations remain high: Revenue at AWS increased 16.9% to $29.27 billion in Q1, marking the third time in a row it missed analyst estimates despite double-digit growth. The Anthropic partnership also underscores a bigger competition AWS may be fighting with chipmakers, including Nvidia (NVDA), which recently staged a $1 trillion rally in just two months after an earnings print that eased investor concerns about chip export controls. While Amazon is an Nvidia customer, it also produces highly effective and more affordable AI chips based on power consumed (known as 'price performance'). On Bedrock, AWS lets clients choose whether to use its own CPUs and GPUs or chips from competitors like Intel (INTC), AMD (AMD), and Nvidia. 'We're able to work with the model providers to really optimize the model for the hardware that it runs,' Brown said. 'There's no change the customer has to make.' Customers not only have a choice of model but also a choice of which infrastructure the model should run and train on. This helps AWS compete on price — a key battleground with Nvidia, which offers the most expensive chips on the market. This 'coopetition' dynamic could position Amazon to take market share from Nvidia if it can prove its own chips can do the job for a lower sticker price. It's a bet that Amazon is willing to spend on, with capital expenditures expected to hit $100 billion in 2025, up from $83 billion last year. While AWS doesn't break out its costs for AI, CEO Andy Jassy said on an earnings call in February that the 'vast majority of that capex spend is on AI for AWS.' In an April letter to shareholders, Jassy noted that 'AI revenue is growing at triple-digit YoY percentages and represents a multibillion-dollar annual revenue run rate.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amazon wants to become a global marketplace for AI
Amazon Web Services isn't betting on one large language model (LLM) winning the artificial intelligence race. Instead, it's offering customers a buffet of models to choose from. AWS, the cloud computing arm of Amazon (AMZN), aims to become the go-to infrastructure layer for the AI economy, regardless of which model wins out. By making customer choice a defining principle, AWS hopes to win out against rivals that have aligned closely with specific LLM providers — notably Microsoft (MSFT), which partnered with ChatGPT creator OpenAI ( 'We don't think that there's going to be one model to rule them all,' Dave Brown, vice president of compute and networking at AWS, told Yahoo Finance. The model-neutral approach is embedded into Amazon Bedrock, a service that allows AWS customers to build their own applications using a wide range of models, with more than 100 to choose from. Brown added that after Chinese startup DeepSeek surprised the world, AWS had a fully managed version of the disruptive model available on Bedrock within a week. Two years after its launch, Bedrock is now the fastest-growing service offered by AWS, which accounted for over 18% of Amazon's total revenue in the first quarter. It's why Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sees Bedrock as a core part of the company's AI growth strategy. But to understand the competitive advantage AWS hopes to offer with Bedrock, you have to go back to its origin story. Bedrock dates back to a six-page internal memo that Atul Deo, AWS's director of product management, wrote in 2020. Before OpenAI's ChatGPT launched in 2022 and made 'generative AI' a household term, Deo pitched a service that could generate code from plain English prompts using large language models. But Jassy, the head of AWS at the time, didn't buy it. 'His initial reaction was, 'This seems almost like a pipe dream,'' Deo said. He added that while a tool that makes coding easy sounds obvious now, the technology was 'still not quite there.' When that project, initially known as Code Whisperer, launched in 2023, the team realized they could offer the service for a broader set of use cases, giving customers a choice of different models with 'generic capabilities' that 'could be used as a foundation to build a lot of interesting applications,' according to Deo. Deo noted that the team steered away from doubling down on its own model after it recognized a pattern of customers wanting choice in other AWS services. This led to AWS becoming the first provider to offer a range of different models to customers. With this foundational approach in mind, Amazon renamed the project Bedrock. To be sure, the model-agnostic approach has risks, and many analysts don't consider Amazon to be leading the AI race, even though it has ramped up its AI spending. If there is ultimately one model to rule them all, similar to how Google came to dominate search, Amazon could risk further falling behind. At the beginning of the year, Amazon and its peers Meta (META), Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) expected to spend $325 billion combined, mostly on AI infrastructure. To keep pace, Amazon has hedged its bets with its own technology and one LLM provider in particular: Anthropic. In November 2024, AWS doubled its investment in Anthropic to $8 billion in a deal that requires Anthropic to train its large language model, Claude, using only AWS's chips. (For comparison, Microsoft has invested over $13 billion into OpenAI.) The $8 billion deal allows Amazon to prove out its AI training infrastructure and deepen ties with one LLM provider while continuing to offer customers a wide selection of models on Bedrock. 'I mean, this is cloud selling 101, right?' said Dan Rosenthal, head of go-to-market partnerships at Anthropic. 'There are some cases where it's been very clear that a customer wants to use a different model on Bedrock for something that we just frankly don't focus on, and that's great. We want to win where we have a right to win.' Amazon also launched its own family of foundational models, called Nova, at the end of 2024, two years after the launch of ChatGPT. But competition and expectations remain high: Revenue at AWS increased 16.9% to $29.27 billion in Q1, marking the third time in a row it missed analyst estimates despite double-digit growth. The Anthropic partnership also underscores a bigger competition AWS may be fighting with chipmakers, including Nvidia (NVDA), which recently staged a $1 trillion rally in just two months after an earnings print that eased investor concerns about chip export controls. While Amazon is an Nvidia customer, it also produces highly effective and more affordable AI chips based on power consumed (known as 'price performance'). On Bedrock, AWS lets clients choose whether to use its own CPUs and GPUs or chips from competitors like Intel (INTC), AMD (AMD), and Nvidia. 'We're able to work with the model providers to really optimize the model for the hardware that it runs,' Brown said. 'There's no change the customer has to make.' Customers not only have a choice of model but also a choice of which infrastructure the model should run and train on. This helps AWS compete on price — a key battleground with Nvidia, which offers the most expensive chips on the market. This 'coopetition' dynamic could position Amazon to take market share from Nvidia if it can prove its own chips can do the job for a lower sticker price. It's a bet that Amazon is willing to spend on, with capital expenditures expected to hit $100 billion in 2025, up from $83 billion last year. While AWS doesn't break out its costs for AI, CEO Andy Jassy said on an earnings call in February that the 'vast majority of that capex spend is on AI for AWS.' In an April letter to shareholders, Jassy noted that 'AI revenue is growing at triple-digit YoY percentages and represents a multibillion-dollar annual revenue run rate.' Sign in to access your portfolio
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Pinjarra's Exchange Hotel sizzles into steak sanga finals
A Pinjarra pub is raising the stakes with a unique steak sanga offering that's become a juicy contender in WA's premier steak sandwich competition. The organisers of the Australian Hotels Association (WA) and Little Creatures WA's Best Steak Sandwich contest named The Exchange Hotel as one of the four country WA finalists in this year's event. The three others were Margaret River's Settlers Tavern, The Miners Rest, and Australind's Treendale Farm Hotel — with Treendale winning last year. The Exchange Hotel's offering is packed with chargrilled local lamb, a quirky twist on the expected beef cut. The mouthwatering lamb is then topped by cooked tomato, a capsicum and pomegranate molasses, red onion, sumac and house-made feta mint yoghurt, all served on a garlic butter Turkish roll. Exchange head chef Chef Dave Brown said the lamb comes from Midway Farm stall down the road and is 'especially nice'. 'It's Middle Eastern style, which I think is what helped us along, because it's a bit different,' he added. '99 per cent of people love it and all of the feedback I got was about how different and exciting it is compared to normal. 'We're in a position out here where we can get away from a lot of the basic pub stuff, but I don't get too far away from it. ' The Exchange is currently selling more than 100 of the unique lamb sandwiches a week, on top of selling about 250 of the classic beef steak sandwiches. Four Perth metropolitan finalists were also named — Carrington's Bar & Grill in Hamilton Hill, Print Hall in Perth, The Central in Butler, and The Last Local in Canning Vale. Carrington's Bar & Grill is the defending metro champion. The finalists will compete for the titles of country WA champion on June 24 and Perth metro champion on June 25 at the 2025 AHA Hospitality Expo at Crown Perth. They will present their steak sandwiches to a panel of judges who will assess tenderness, presentation, originality, flavour, chips, sauces and value. AHA(WA) chief executive Bradley Woods said the standard of entries continued to impress, with more than 70 venues entering and showcasing exceptional levels of flavour, creativity and presentation. 'WA's Best Steak Sandwich is more than just a competition — it's a sizzling showcase of foodie passion and the incredible talent we have in our pubs and hotels across the State,' he said. 'The energy this year has been fantastic. Venues have thrown themselves into it, especially on social media — rallying their communities and bringing some serious steak sandwich spirit to the competition. 'We're looking forward to seeing what the finalists bring to the stage during the live cook-off to determine the winners.'
Globe and Mail
08-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
POLLARD BANKNOTE CONFIRMS VOTING RESULTS OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
WINNIPEG, MB , May 8, 2025 /CNW/ - Pollard Banknote Limited (TSX: PBL) ("Pollard Banknote") confirms the voting results of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held virtually on May 8, 2025 , the results of which have been posted on SEDAR+. A total of 22,702,949 common shares representing approximately 83.87% of Pollard's outstanding shares, were presented in person or by proxy at the meeting. Nominee Votes For % Votes For Votes Against % Votes Against Dave Brown 22,131,111 97.84 487,918 2.16 Lee Meagher 22,131,313 97.84 487,716 2.16 Carmele Peter 21,799,822 96.38 819,207 3.62 Gordon Pollard 21,080,433 93.20 1,538,595 6.80 John Pollard 21,487,188 95.00 1,131,840 5.00 Douglas Pollard 21,487,188 95.00 1,131,840 5.00 In addition, Pollard's shareholders approved the appointment of KPMG LLP as auditors. Detailed voting results for all resolutions were posted under Pollard's profile at About Pollard Banknote Pollard Banknote is a leading lottery partner to more than 60 lotteries worldwide, providing high-quality instant ticket products, licensed games, in-lane ticket options, and sales-driving merchandising solutions from its Schafer Retail Solutions + portfolio. It also offers a full suite of digital offerings, ranging from world-class game apps to comprehensive player engagement and iLottery solutions, including strategic marketing and management services. The company is a proven innovator and has decades of experience helping lotteries to maximize player engagement, sales, and proceeds for good causes. Pollard Banknote also provides pull-tab tickets, bingo paper, ticket vending machines, and its Diamond Game and Compliant Gaming electronic games and devices to charitable and other gaming markets in North America . Established in 1907, Pollard Banknote is owned approximately 64% by the Pollard family and 36% by public shareholders, and is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: PBL). For more information, please visit our website at
Cision Canada
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cision Canada
He's back! AMI's Dave Brown returns with a brand-new series, Game Changers, debuting May 15 on AMI-tv and AMI+
TORONTO, May 8, 2025 /CNW/ - Dave Brown is back! Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), in partnership with FRANK Digital, is thrilled to announce the debut of the 16-episode Game Changers, Thursday, May 15, at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv and AMI+. Each episode of Game Changers finds Dave in his element, visiting stunning locales while spending the day chatting with notable Canadians. Guests joining Dave in Season 1 include wheelchair basketball star Tara Llanes, sportswear designer Lucy Wild, The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, award-winning music producer/recording artist Mattmac, PGA golfer Kyle Miller, playwright Ashley King, actor Bruce Horak and punk rock icon Bif Naked. "Dave has a genuine curiosity about how others view the world," says John Melville, Vice-President of Content Development and Operations, AMI-tv and AMI-audio. "His engagement with his interview subjects is second-to-none. We invite Canadians to join Dave and his guests as the third chair in their engaging conversation." "It's important to have meaningful conversations with people who want to make a difference," host Dave Brown says. "These are people putting words into action. It's a privilege to learn about them and give them a platform to share their perspective. It's an added bonus that I've been able to make my way across the country to have these conversations." The first five episodes of Game Changers include: Tara Llanes – Thursday, May 15, at 9 p.m. Eastern Dave Brown shoots hoops with Tara Llanes, former pro mountain biker turned wheelchair basketball star. Along the way, Tara shares her journey of resilience, reinvention and athletic excellence. Maggie Manning – Thursday, May 22, at 9 p.m. Eastern Dave Brown sits down with para hockey goaltender Maggie Manning to hear her story of sport, advocacy and resilience. Then it's game on as Dave hits the ice to see if he can score on Maggie! Lucy Wild – Thursday, May 29, at 9 p.m. Eastern Dave Brown hits the slopes with technical sportswear designer Lucy Wild to talk innovation, inclusion and high-performance gear. From Paralympic design to skiing in Whistler, this episode is all about pushing limits in style. Jaimie Borisoff – Thursday, June 5, at 9 p.m. Eastern Dave Brown chats with Paralympic champion and rehab engineer Jaimie Borisoff about innovation, mobility and life after elite sport. Then the pair explore the future of accessibility tech, including a playful encounter with the British Columbia Institute of Technology's robotic dog, MACO! Carla Qualtrough – Thursday, June 12, at 9 p.m. Eastern Dave Brown meets Member of Parliament Carla Qualtrough—Paralympian and trailblazing politician—to talk sports, leadership and disability advocacy. Then Dave takes on a new challenge: learning to walk with a guide dog! Game Changers airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. Eastern on AMI-tv. Stream episodes anytime, for free, on AMI+. About Dave Brown Dave Brown has close to two decades of broadcast experience. Early in his career, Dave ran a student radio station in Ottawa, interned at CBC Radio 3 in Vancouver, CBC Radio 1 in Ottawa, Entertainment Tonight Canada and Global News Toronto. Dave's first big on-air opportunity came as a traffic reporter with CBC Radio 1 in Ottawa. For more than three years, commuters started their day with Dave in their ears. Dave joined AMI in 2015 as a bureau reporter in Ottawa. Since then, he has hosted AMI This Week and produced stories and documentaries for the network. In 2017, Dave and his team launched The Pulse for AMI-audio. The long-form interview show gave Dave a chance to sharpen his interview skills and connect with members of the disability community in Canada and around the world. In 2020, Dave hosted the weekday series NOW with Dave Brown, where he discussed the latest news, entertainment, sports and current events through a disability lens. About FRANK Digital FRANK Digital is a Winnipeg-based video production and post-production company with a reputation for crafting impactful, socially conscious storytelling across a wide range of formats. With decades of industry experience, FRANK has become one of Manitoba's largest and most respected production houses, offering end-to-end service with all equipment, talent and expertise provided in-house. From national broadcast commercials and documentary films to immersive museum exhibits and television series, FRANK brings a thoughtful, intentional approach to every project. The studio's award-winning team of editors, animators, directors and producers works collaboratively to deliver high-calibre content that both informs and inspires. Their portfolio spans genres and platforms, but what unites their work is a deep commitment to quality storytelling with purpose. At its core, FRANK Digital believes in using the power of media to spark dialogue, drive social change and reflect the complexities of the human experience. Whether highlighting underrepresented voices, tackling critical social issues, or celebrating resilience and innovation, FRANK's projects aim to leave a lasting impression. Equally important is the company's commitment to working with like-minded clients — organizations, institutions and individuals who share a passion for doing good in the world. FRANK thrives in creative partnerships where the goal is not just to produce great content, but to make a meaningful impact. More than a production company, FRANK Digital is a storytelling studio grounded in integrity, collaboration, and a belief that great content has the power to move people — and move the world forward. About AMI AMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit and SOURCE Accessible Media Inc. (AMI)
