Amazon’s AGI Lab Chief Departs

The head of Amazon’s artificial general intelligence lab is departing the company, less than two years after joining via an “acqui-hire” of his startup, Adept. David Luan announced his exit, stating he intends to “cook up something new” at the end of this week.

Amazon brought Luan on board in December 2024 to lead its newly established AGI lab in San Francisco. This lab is dedicated to “long-term research bets,” with a particular focus on developing advanced “useful AI agents.” Last year, the team unveiled Amazon’s Nova Act agent, an extension of its Nova models, designed to rival leading AI platforms such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Google’s Gemini.

Luan expressed his commitment to advancing AGI, noting that “with AGI so close, I decided to spend 100% of my time on teaching AI systems brand new capabilities.”

His departure follows a significant reorganization of Amazon’s AGI division late last year, which placed it under the leadership of Peter DeSantis, a senior vice president with 27 years at the company, primarily within its cloud unit. AGI, or artificial general intelligence, refers to AI capable of performing at or exceeding human levels across a broad spectrum of tasks.

Amazon’s acquisition of Luan and other key executives from Adept, along with a license for its technology including AI models and datasets, occurred in June 2024. The financial terms of this deal were not disclosed.

These types of AI acqui-hire arrangements have drawn increased scrutiny. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson indicated in January that the agency would review such deals to ascertain if they are being used to circumvent regulatory oversight. The FTC had previously launched an inquiry into Amazon’s hiring of Adept employees in 2024. Furthermore, lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have urged regulatory bodies to scrutinize these acquisition tactics within the tech industry.

Amazon representatives declined to comment on the matter.