Amazon Shuts Down Most Nova Flagship Models, Bets on New Frontier Models
Taylor Wilson
Amazon is killing most of its in-house Nova flagship AI models and funneling engineering resources into a new effort called FMR (Frontier Model Research), with new models expected to debut at this fall's re:Invent conference. The move amounts to an admission that Amazon's scattershot AI model strategy failed to gain traction against OpenAI and Google.
Which models are being cut?
The casualties include the high-end Premier and Omni models, the Reel video-generation model, and the Canvas image-generation model.
Employees describe these models as being in "KTLO" mode — keep the lights on — still serving existing customers but no longer a development priority.
This means → they haven't been switched off overnight, but they've effectively moved from "active build" to "legacy support" with no major updates ahead.
Why the sudden pivot?
The core reason: Nova models never generated the market attention that products from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google command.
In December, Senior VP Peter DeSantis took over the AGI organization and merged it with Amazon's chip-development and quantum-computing units.
In plain terms = the previous leader ran parallel model families across many directions; DeSantis is cutting side bets, consolidating talent and compute, and focusing on one frontier push.
What is FMR?
FMR (Frontier Model Research) is led by researcher Pieter Abbeel, who joined Amazon through its acquisition of AI robotics startup Covariant.
The project has become the top priority inside Amazon's AGI organization this year, with resources steadily shifting from existing Nova models to FMR.
This means → Amazon is moving its entire "build a frontier model in-house" bet from a scattered Nova portfolio onto a single new team and architecture.
Layoffs and a shuttered lab — what else happened?
Amazon laid off staff in its AGI organization last week and shut down AGI Lab, which was established only in 2024.
The lab was led by Adept co-founder David Luan and focused on long-term AI research; Luan left the company in February.
This reflects a clear logic from DeSantis: the cuts aren't limited to model lines — research teams outside the core direction are being contracted too.
Will the Nova brand disappear entirely?
No. Products that remain include the Nova 2 Sonic and Nova 2 Lite foundation models, the model-customization service Nova Forge, and the AI-agent technology Nova Act.
The new flagship foundation model FMR is building may also launch under the Nova brand.
In plain terms = the "Nova" name stays, but what it stands for changes drastically — from a broad portfolio of models in many directions to a focused brand for a few frontier models.
What to watch next?
An Amazon spokesperson said "AI models remain among our most important work" and pledged clear migration paths for customers.
This fall's re:Invent conference will be FMR's first public showing — and the first real test of whether this strategic contraction pays off.
This means → if re:Invent fails to deliver a competitive frontier model, Amazon's narrative around in-house AI development becomes significantly harder to defend.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.