Can Amazon Nail Two Birds With One Stone In Its Upcoming AI Conference?

On the one hand, Amazon’s AI conference has a purpose of inspiring AI pursuers. On the other hand, the conference is also meant to boost Amazon’s reputation.

For the last three years, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s annual Machine learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space conference (MARS), an invite-only event, has witnessed the participation of several industry luminaries. Now, Amazon is hosting a similar event called re:MARS, which is an AI-focused public conference including workshops, demonstrations, roundtables, and speakers.

Although Bezos stated that the success of MARS would mainly depend on whether the attendees are inspired or not, the newly created event is more about if it can help the giant retailer ward off the previous backlash of its AI efforts.

According to the Amazon blog post, the event will take place from June 4th to June 7th, which will be hosted at the ARIA Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fun fact from the event is that astronauts are able to get in the event free of charge.

According to Bezos, the event’s intention is charitable, which fully focused on helping the world sees the potential benefits of AI. Besides, it helps to connect leaders and builders from diverse areas for further innovation. Bezos also further stated that we had only scratched the surface of what had been previously thought to only exist in science fiction.

What the blog post failed to comment on is the retaliation the company received from its achievements in AI, which has recently placed the company under serious criticism from politicians, civil rights groups, and even from its own shareholders and employees. The criticisms all surround Amazon selling its facial recognition powered by AI to law enforcement agencies.

However, Amazon’s blog does note its plan to demonstrates its AI technology, which includes Prime Air, Amazon Go, and Alexa.

The event will probably bring Amazon back to its former reputation by showing the world that aside from helping the enforcement agencies, the technology could do far better work for humankind.