Amazon nabs SF startup Adept's cofounders to bolster AI efforts

By Greg Bensinger

(Reuters) -Amazon.com hired away artificial intelligence startup Adept's co-founders and some of its team in a move that echoes one by rival Microsoft.

Adept said in a blog post Friday that cofounder and CEO David Luan, as well as several other co-founders and employees were leaving to join Amazon.

Adept, which has raised over $410 million and is valued above $1 billion, named a new CEO and said it would continue to operate independent of Amazon.

The move is similar to one by Microsoft, which in March hired away much of Inflection AI's leadership and employees and agreed to pay a roughly $650 million fee.