Key Points
- Amazon announced the Nova 2 family: Lite, Pro, Sonic and Omni models.
- Nova Forge lets customers add their own data at multiple training stages.
- Reddit used Nova Forge to create a model for content‑moderation tasks.
- Booking.com, Sony and Nimbus Therapeutics are also testing the service.
- Nova 2 Pro is claimed to match or exceed leading competitors on benchmarks.
- Nova Omni is a fully multimodal reasoning model handling text, images, audio and video.
- The offering aims to simplify custom AI development for cloud customers.
- Amazon leverages its Trainium chips to power the new models.
LISBON PORTUGAL 20221102 Rohit Prasad Senior VP Head Scientist for Alexa at Amazon addresses the audience during the…
Amazon Introduces a New Generation of Frontier AI Models
At its annual re:Invent conference, Amazon revealed the second generation of its Nova AI models. The portfolio includes two large‑language models—Nova Lite and Nova Pro—a real‑time voice model called Nova Sonic, and a multimodal reasoning model named Nova Omni that can process images, audio, video and text together.
Nova Forge Enables Customer‑Driven Model Customization
In addition to the models, Amazon launched Nova Forge, a service that allows customers to create specialized frontier models by injecting their own training data at various stages of the model‑building process. This approach goes beyond typical fine‑tuning by supporting custom pre‑training, a step usually reserved for large AI labs.
Early Testers and Use Cases
Reddit was among the first companies to experiment with Nova Forge, using it to develop a model that can identify content that violates the platform’s rules. The company noted that conventional fine‑tuning would not suffice because existing models tend to refuse to analyze certain offensive or violent material. By combining custom pre‑training with fine‑tuning, Reddit produced a model that understands the nuances of its own community. Other organizations testing the service include Booking.com, Sony and the biotech firm Nimbus Therapeutics.
Performance Claims and Competitive Positioning
Amazon asserts that Nova 2 Pro matches or exceeds leading models from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic on a range of benchmark tests. The smaller Nova 2 Lite model is positioned alongside comparable offerings from other vendors. Nova Omni represents Amazon’s entry into fully multimodal reasoning, a capability the company says is not yet offered by any other AI provider.
Strategic Implications for Amazon’s Cloud Business
The introduction of customizable frontier models aligns with Amazon’s broader strategy to attract cloud customers seeking advanced AI tools. By offering a way to tailor models to specific domains, Amazon aims to differentiate its cloud AI services from competitors that primarily provide closed or open‑source models. The company also highlighted its investment in custom hardware, such as Trainium chips, to support the training of these large models.
Industry Context and Outlook
Surveys indicate that a large share of U.S. companies view AI as a high priority, yet many report challenges related to expertise and resources required for model development. Nova Forge seeks to lower those barriers by reducing the cost and complexity of building frontier models. As businesses continue to explore AI‑driven solutions, Amazon’s new offerings could provide a more accessible path to domain‑specific intelligence.
Source: wired.com