OpenAI to make its models available via Amazon's servers
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Amazon and OpenAI on Tuesday announced an expanded deal that will make the AI startup's models available from Amazon's cloud.
Why it matters: The move comes a day after OpenAI and Microsoft announced a revised partnership that had required developers to use Microsoft Azure to access most OpenAI services.
Driving the news: OpenAI and Amazon said customers will soon be able to access OpenAI models and its Codex tool via AWS.
- OpenAI models, including GPT-5.4, are immediately available in preview from Amazon Bedrock, with GPT-5.5 coming soon, AWS CEO Matt Garman said during an event in San Francisco.
- The new collaboration builds on an existing deal, announced in February, that called for the two companies to collaborate on a new kind of server-based AI computer for businesses. That is now being referred to as Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents, powered by OpenAI.
What they're saying: "AWS is one of the companies that change what builders can do," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said via video. Altman said he wished he could be there in person, but noted his schedule required him to be elsewhere.
- Altman is in federal court across the bay in Oakland, where OpenAI is defending itself in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk.
Between the lines: OpenAI is betting that it can win more business customers if its models are available through whatever cloud provider they are already using, which for many companies is AWS.
- OpenAI gave up some revenue to gain the flexibility. As part of the revised pact with Microsoft, it's no longer getting a share of Microsoft's revenue related to its models.
- Google is studying how it might be able to work with OpenAI given the revised deal with Microsoft, per a source familiar with the situation.
The big picture: Both OpenAI and Anthropic are fighting to maximize their business ahead of likely IPOs for both companies that could happen as soon as this year.
- Amazon, meanwhile, is trying to show that beyond being a large cloud provider, it is a serious player in AI.
- In addition to the OpenAI deal, Amazon announced plans to compete with business software providers with a product line called Connect. It says Connect is designed from the start for an agentic AI world, while incumbents are trying to bolt AI on to older products.
- Connect targets four areas intially: supply chains, hiring, health care and customer experience.
