Amazon winds down Nova models, bets on Frontier Model Group
Amazon is retiring most of its flagship Nova AI models and moving its engineers to a new frontier group led by Pieter Abbeel, reversing its 2023 AGI bet.
In Brief
- Amazon is deprecating most of its flagship Nova models, including Premier, Omni, Reel, and Canvas, according to people familiar with the matter.
- The retreat reverses Amazon’s 2023 push, when Andy Jassy personally championed AGI to build its most ambitious foundation models.
- Resources are moving to Frontier Model Research under Pieter Abbeel, with a new model expected to debut at re:Invent this fall.
Amazon is overhauling its AI strategy, winding down most of its in-house Nova models and steering engineers toward a new frontier-model effort. The shift was first reported by Business Insider and follows last week’s layoffs in the company’s AGI organization and the shutdown of its AGI Lab.
The pullback puts Amazon in an awkward spot as Apple overtakes Nvidia on AI-selloff fears and Asia funds flee the trade. Amazon spent years telling investors its custom models were the future of AWS.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company remains committed to frontier work. “AI models remain one of the most important things we’re working on, and that hasn’t changed,” the spokesperson said, adding that Amazon evolves its lineup “based on what customers need.”
Amazon Nova models enter keep-the-lights-on mode
Employees describe the sidelined Nova models as running in “KTLO” mode, short for “keep the lights on” — software still supported for existing customers but no longer a development priority. The high-end Premier and Omni models, the Reel video generator, and the Canvas image generator are all affected.
The remaining Nova portfolio is thinner: Nova 2 Sonic and Nova 2 Lite foundation models, the Nova Forge customization service, and Nova Act, Amazon’s AI agent. The new model from Frontier Model Research could still surface under the Nova brand.
The restructuring caps a swift reversal. Just last year AWS used re:Invent to unveil Nova Omni 2 as its flagship multimodal reasoning model, and in 2023 CEO Andy Jassy championed AGI as the team that would build Amazon’s most ambitious foundation models.
Frontier Model Group takes the reins
Frontier Model Research, led by Pieter Abbeel after Amazon acquired his robotics startup Covariant, has become the organization’s primary focus this year. The group is developing a new flagship foundation model expected to debut at re:Invent this fall.
The broader AGI organization was placed under SVP Peter DeSantis in December, merging it with Amazon’s silicon and quantum computing groups. DeSantis has concentrated talent and compute on a smaller number of frontier efforts than his predecessor, Rohit Prasad.
Prasad led AGI until his December 2025 departure; the AGI Lab built around Adept’s team was shut down last week after David Luan left in February. Less than three years after AGI’s creation, Amazon is retiring parts of the Nova lineup it once pitched as core to AWS.
FAQ
Which Nova models is Amazon winding down?
Amazon is deprecating most of its flagship Nova models, including the Premier, Omni, Reel, and Canvas models, while keeping Nova 2 Sonic, Nova 2 Lite, Nova Forge, and Nova Act.
What does “KTLO” mean at Amazon?
Employees use “KTLO,” or “keep the lights on,” to describe models still supported for existing customers but no longer a major development priority.
Who leads Amazon’s new frontier model effort?
Frontier Model Research is led by Pieter Abbeel, who joined Amazon through the Covariant acquisition, and is expected to ship a new flagship model at re:Invent this fall.
