In a move to bolster its position in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, Amazon has unveiled Nova Act, a new AI model designed to perform complex tasks with advanced reasoning and problem-solving skills. The announcement marks Amazon's entry into the competitive field of agentic AI, aiming to challenge existing players like OpenAI and Google.
According to CNBC, Nova Act is designed to carry out tasks within web browsers, including online shopping, filling out forms, and making reservations, effectively acting on behalf of users in digital environments. This model is part of Amazon's Nova family of generative AI models, which the company plans to launch by June 2025. Nova Act is the first AI model developed at Amazon's newly established Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) research lab.
The upgraded Amazon voice assistant, Alexa Plus, will incorporate the Nova Act model, bringing generative AI capabilities and the ability to browse the web on behalf of users. This integration aims to enhance user interaction by allowing the assistant to perform tasks autonomously.
Amazon AGI Labs, assembled in San Francisco, is working on models that aim to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in the field of generative AI, according to The Independent. The lab is dedicated to developing artificial general intelligence, aiming to create a theoretical AI system with capabilities surpassing humans.
"We think of agents as systems that can complete tasks and act in a range of digital and physical environments on behalf of the user. Today, such agents are still in an early stage," Amazon wrote in a blog post, as reported by The Washington Times.
Nova Act builds on Amazon's Nova foundation models introduced in December, which include text-based models Micro, Lite, and Pro. Previously, Amazon released image and video generation AI models—Nova Canvas and Nova Reel—as part of the Nova product line.
Amazon claimed that the Nova Act model surpassed the agents of OpenAI and Anthropic in a test measuring the ability to recognize and interact with text displayed on a screen, scoring 94% on the ScreenSpot Web Text benchmark.
The Nova Act Software Development Kit (SDK) allows developers to create AI agents capable of automating tasks such as filling out forms, navigating web pages, and managing workflows, similar to OpenAI's Operator, according to testingcatalog.com. Access to the Nova Act SDK is currently limited to US-based developers with an Amazon account.
"The idea is that people can quickly try ideas on the Nova website and then scale them in Bedrock," said Rohit Prasad, Senior Vice President of Amazon Artificial General Intelligence.
Amazon is trying to differentiate its model from others through lower cost—up to 75% cheaper than rivals—and better performance, prioritizing external benchmark performance as well as cost efficiency.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.