“Deploying AI in Practice: Lessons from Amazon and AWS”
Speaker Bio
Jacob is the Chief Economist of AWS and Director of AWS Central Economics and Science (ACES). Prior to joining AWS, Jacob led a central science team in Ads finance at Amazon called Stores-Ads Science. Prior to Amazon Jacob led a central economics team at Microsoft Research, and before that he was on faculty in the Economics department at the University of Tennessee. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and a B.A. in Economics from University of California, Berkeley.
Abstract
This talk with discuss the deployment of generative AI tools within Amazon and Amazon Web Services (AWS), drawing on case studies from two distinct contexts: the integration of AI into economist workflows and broader corporate applications across the organization. We document how economists are leveraging large language models and related tools to accelerate research processes, enhance model building, and improve the communication of complex findings to diverse stakeholders. At the organizational level, we analyze how AWS has systematically deployed AI solutions to streamline operations, augment employee capabilities, and develop new value propositions through product innovation. Drawing from these experiences, we distill actionable lessons applicable to firms across the broader economy, particularly regarding change management, human-AI complementarity, and the measurement of AI-driven productivity gains distinguishing between partial and general equilibrium impacts.