Amazon cloud giant AWS wants public sector to embrace AI [Video]

Amazon’s AWS, the world’s biggest cloud computing outfit, is making a major push to persuade the public sector to join the artificial intelligence revolution, as the generative AI race with Microsoft and Google heats up.

AWS and the other cloud giants say that the technology behind ChatGPT can have a huge impact on improving public services, including in health, security, charity and NGO work.

But getting governments and nonprofits to sign on will be a bigger ask than persuading private companies — and AWS on Wednesday opened a $50 million two-year envelope for potential public customers to test out ideas.

The public sector market is already an important one. AWS serves 7,500 government agencies, 14,000 academic institutions and 85,000 nonprofits in 215 countries, according to company data.

The new fund would give accepted AI projects access to cloud computing credits, training and technical expertise.

“What I see happening is lots …