Amazon leans into generative AI to manage its finances

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Amazon.com is stepping up its use of generative artificial intelligence throughout its finance teams, as many companies look for ways to effectively move from testing and experimenting with the technology to prime time. The e-commerce giant initially adopted rules-based systems, one of the earliest forms of AI that use a set of rules to solve problems and make decisions, in its finance organization, which it then augmented with machine learning.

Generative AI now assists finance employees with more complex analyses. Its finance teams are turning to generative AI in areas such as fraud detection, contract review, financial forecasting, personal productivity, interpretation of rules and regulations, and tax-related work, moves in part aimed at reducing costs, boosting efficiencies and increasing accuracy, company executives said.

These use cases are in a mix of experimentation and implementation stages. “While experimentation and getting to know the technology are things that we really want to speed up, actually deploying this into production and making sure that we are in a well-controlled situation is very, very important for us," said Dave George, vice president of finance technology at Amazon.

More broadly, Amazon is shifting its focus to AI innovations, with the capabilities of its cloud-computing unit Amazon Web Services driving a surge in companywide sales for the most recent quarter. Amazon has said it expects cash capital expenditures to meaningfully increase this year as it makes investments in technology infrastructure, specifically generative AI efforts.

The company booked $13.9 billion in cash capital expenditures during the first quarter, up 6% from the prior-year period. Amazon Web Services comprised 17.5%