Amazon AI Chief Rohit Prasad Resigns: Why CEO Andy Jassy Says the Company Has Hit an Inflection Point

If you follow the global AI race, Amazon has just dropped a major signal. Amazon AI chief Rohit Prasad is stepping down at the end of 2025, triggering a sweeping reorganisation that CEO Andy Jassy calls an “inflection point” in the company’s artificial intelligence journey.

For you, this is not any other executive departure.  It is a clear sign that Amazon is rethinking how it competes with AI heavyweights like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic and how deeply AI will shape everything from Alexa to cloud computing.

Why Rohit Prasad’s Exit Matters

Rohit Prasad has been central to Amazon’s AI story for more than a decade. You may know him as the chief scientist behind Alexa, the voice assistant that brought AI into millions of homes worldwide. After the rise in popularity of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, Amazon hired Rohit Prasad in 2023 to help achieve its goals in artificial general intelligence (AGI).

During his tenure, Amazon developed its Nova series base technology, which primarily targeted enterprise clients through Amazon Web Services (AWS). But despite steady progress, Amazon has often been seen as lagging behind rivals in consumer-facing AI innovation.

The departure of Rohit Prasad now closes a significant chapter and opens a far more aggressive one.

[caption id="attachment_178072" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Rohit Prasad (Amazon AI Chief)[/caption]

Andy Jassy’s “Inflection Point” Explained

In a memo to employees, CEO Andy Jassy made one thing clear: Amazon believes it has reached a critical moment in AI.

Instead of running AGI as a standalone effort, Amazon is folding AI research into a single, unified organisation that also includes:

• Custom silicon (AI chips)
• Cloud infrastructure
• Quantum computing

The idea is simple but powerful: when AI software, hardware, and cloud systems are designed together, innovation accelerates. For you, that could mean faster, cheaper, and more capable AI tools, especially in the cloud.

[caption id="attachment_178075" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon)[/caption]

Peter DeSantis Takes Charge

Leading this newly expanded AI division is Peter DeSantis, a long-time Amazon executive and senior vice president at AWS. If you’ve used AWS, you’ve benefited from his work, DeSantis has been with Amazon since 1998 and helped build AWS into the world’s largest cloud platform.

He will now report directly to Andy Jassy, underlining just how strategic AI has become for Amazon’s future.

DeSantis has also overseen Amazon’s custom chip efforts, including Graviton and Trainium, which are positioned as cost-effective alternatives to Nvidia’s AI processors. As a result, this might result in reduced AI training costs for businesses and developers as well as enhanced cloud integration.

Research Gets a Boost

Amazon is also strengthening its research focus. Pieter Abbeel, a globally recognised AI researcher and UC Berkeley professor, will now lead Amazon’s frontier AI research team.

Abbeel joined Amazon in 2024 after its deal with robotics startup Covariant, and his appointment signals a deeper push into long-term, cutting-edge AI development.

Is Amazon Behind in AI?

If you’ve read headlines suggesting Amazon is trailing in AI, you’re not wrong, at least in perception. OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic have captured more public attention with fast-moving models and consumer tools.

However, behind the scenes, Amazon has been making massive bets:

• Billions invested in Anthropic
• Talks of a $10 billion investment in OpenAI
• OpenAI and Anthropic both agreeing to use AWS Trainium chips
• Nova models launched for enterprise customers at AWS re:Invent

For you, this means Amazon’s AI strategy is less about flashy demos and more about owning the infrastructure layer that powers AI globally.

What Comes Next for Amazon AI

Andy Jassy praised Rohit Prasad as “missionary, passionate, and selfless,” making it clear this is not a retreat, it’s a reset.

As Amazon tightens coordination between AI models, chips, cloud software, and research, the company is betting that integration, not hype, will win the AI race.

For customers, developers, and businesses, this leadership shake-up suggests one thing; Amazon is preparing to move faster, build deeper, and compete harder in a world where AI is no longer optional, it’s foundational.

Read more: ChatGPT 5.2 Launch: New Features, Speed Boost And What It Means To You.