Google has signed on to provide collaborative multi-cloud networking with Amazon using its new “AWS Interconnect – multicloud,” now in preview. Amazon says the new collaboration will simplify multi-cloud networking via managed, private, on-demand access to cross-cloud connectivity. The jointly engineered solution leverages Google’s Cross-Cloud Interconnect technology. The idea is “to enable customers to easily build enterprise-grade applications that span both Google Cloud and AWS environments,” Amazon explains, pointing out that the adoption of multi-cloud applications is rapidly accelerating, driven at least in part by the rise in use of AI. Read more

Amazon has added agentic AI capabilities to Amazon Connect, the neural text-to-speech tool that provides AI-powered customer service support and analytics in real time. Connect is capable of neural text-to-speech in more than 30 languages and also delivers automated speech recognition. Leveraging advanced speech models from Nova Sonic, the Connect agents “deliver natural, human-like conversations, responding with the right pace, tone, and understanding across multiple languages and accents,” Amazon says. The company has also integrated third-party automated speech recognition and text-to-speech solutions from Deepgram and ElevenLabs with Connect. Read more

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), an agency of the Department of Commerce, announced new guidelines before the holiday weekend meant to clarify when inventions that are developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence can be legally patented. The agency defines generative AI systems to be “analogous to laboratory equipment, computer software, research databases, or any other tool that assists in the inventive process,” explained USPTO Director John Squires. According to the updated guidelines, AI systems “may provide services and generate ideas, but they remain tools used by the human inventor who conceived the claimed invention.” Read more

Amazon Web Services is marking its entry into the lucrative business of providing the U.S. government with artificial intelligence and high-performance computing services via purpose-built infrastructure for which it has committed up to $50 billion in construction and equipment. The investment “will add nearly 1.3 GW of compute capacity across AWS Top Secret, AWS Secret, and AWS GovCloud (U.S.) across all classification levels,” Amazon says, adding that the commitment “expands access to AWS’s trusted infrastructure” and advances America’s AI leadership and enables U.S. agencies “to accelerate discovery and decision-making.” Read more

Amazon is playing catch-up to Elon Musk’s Starlink with its satellite-based Internet service Leo, the rebrand of Project Kuiper. Leo is previewing a gigabit-speed “Ultra” antenna for business customers. Amazon claims that Leo Ultra is “the fastest customer terminal in production,” with download speeds of up to 1 Gbps and upload speeds that max at 400 Mbps. Amazon Leo has “more than 150 satellites in orbit” with “initial network testing underway” and plans to have a total of 3,000 satellites. Because it’s satellite rather than terrestrially based, Leo is accessible in areas without reliable connectivity, anywhere on the globe. Read more