Amazon Hires Microsoft's Former Copilot CTO for AI Agent Push
By Eugene Kim and Ashley Stewart
Amazon has poached Pedram Rezaei, the former Microsoft Copilot CTO, to bolster its artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives. Rezaei will join AWS as a distinguished engineer in their Agentic AI and Emerging Technologies group.
Rezaei's Extensive Experience at Microsoft:
He spent two decades at Microsoft, most recently contributing to their Superintelligence team, where he trained foundation models for the company's AI technologies. Prior to that, he served as Copilot's CTO until June and held senior technical roles in various product areas, including Bing and Dynamics 365.
Amazon's AI Ambitions
At Amazon, Rezaei will focus on Quick and Kiro, two key products in the company's AI agent strategy. According to Swami Sivasubramanian, Amazon's VP of Agentic AI, both Quick and Kiro have seen significant user growth:
- Quick, AWS's AI assistant and productivity app, has experienced a fourfold increase in monthly AI users from Q1 to Q2.
- Kiro, an AI-powered coding tool, has doubled its user base over the same period.
Sivasubramanian emphasized Rezaei's arrival as a pivotal moment for Amazon:
"Pedram joins at an exciting time for our organization as we continue to build out our technical leadership team to help take on the ambitious work we have planned."
Market Insights
Rezaei's hire underscores Amazon's commitment to transforming its AI investments into market-leading products. As Microsoft has made Copilot a central part of its AI strategy, Amazon is similarly focusing on developing its own suite of AI tools, including Bedrock models, coding assistants, and agentic software. This move signals Amazon's intention to strengthen its position in the rapidly growing AI agent space.