OpenAI Models Now Available on AWS - AI & Cloud Integration

OpenAI Expands Reach with Amazon Web Services Partnership

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is intensifying competition within the AI landscape, highlighted by a new collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

OpenAI recently unveiled two open-weight reasoning models, achieving performance levels comparable to its o-series models. Simultaneously, Amazon announced their availability on AWS starting Tuesday.

First-Time Offering on AWS

This marks the first instance of OpenAI models being offered through AWS, as confirmed to TechCrunch. The models will be integrated as options within Amazon AI services, specifically Bedrock and SageMaker AI.

While these models are publicly downloadable via Hugging Face, Amazon’s offering is done with the full consent and knowledge of OpenAI, as stated by Dmitry Pimenov, OpenAI’s product lead.

A Strategic Competitive Move

This partnership represents a significant competitive advancement for both companies. For AWS, it positions the cloud giant alongside the leading model developer, OpenAI.

Previously, AWS was primarily recognized as a key host and financial supporter of Anthropic’s Claude, a major competitor to OpenAI. AWS currently provides access to Claude, alongside models from Cohere, DeepSeek, Meta, and Mistral, as well as its own internally developed models.

Bedrock and SageMaker: Two Avenues for Access

Bedrock enables AWS customers to construct and deploy generative AI applications utilizing models of their choosing. SageMaker, conversely, allows customers to train or even create their own AI models, primarily for analytical purposes.

Despite Microsoft’s longstanding relationship with OpenAI, dating back to January, Azure remains OpenAI’s most substantial cloud partner. OpenAI has also announced that Microsoft is offering optimized versions of these new models for Windows devices.

Amazon's Response to Microsoft's Gains

The increasing cloud business Microsoft has secured through its partnership with OpenAI has been a point of concern for Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. During Amazon’s recent earnings call, Jassy faced numerous questions from analysts regarding the company’s perceived loss of ground in AI to competitors, particularly Microsoft.

Analysts, such as JPMorgan’s Doug Anmuth, questioned Jassy about the “significantly faster cloud growth among the number two and number three players,” referencing Microsoft and Google. Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak expressed Wall Street’s belief that “AWS is falling behind in GenAI.”

Jassy responded with a detailed explanation, noting that “the second player is about 65% of the size of the AWS.”

Oracle's Deal and OpenAI's Diversification

Another AWS competitor, Oracle, recently secured a $30 billion annual deal with OpenAI to provide data center services. This signifies that OpenAI anticipates spending more with Oracle annually than with all its other cloud service providers combined. Until now, AWS had not benefited from OpenAI’s growth.

Benefits for OpenAI

This collaboration with AWS offers OpenAI several advantages. Given the reportedly strained relationship between OpenAI and Microsoft, and ongoing negotiations regarding their long-term partnership, diversifying cloud providers strengthens OpenAI’s negotiating position.

Furthermore, the partnership provides easy access for AWS’s extensive enterprise customer base to experiment with OpenAI models within their existing AI applications.

Undercutting Meta

This move also allows Sam Altman to challenge Mark Zuckerberg and Meta. With the release of these high-performing models under an Apache 2.0 open-source license, Meta recently indicated it may not continue to open-source all of its future “superintelligence” models.