Amazon Restructures AI Leadership as Rohit Prasad Exits, Peter DeSantis Appointed to Lead Expanded AI Division
Amazon has announced a significant restructuring of its artificial intelligence leadership, marking the departure of veteran executive Rohit Prasad and the promotion of longtime Amazon leader Peter DeSantis to head an expanded AI-focused organization. The move signals Amazon’s renewed push to strengthen its position in the rapidly evolving global AI landscape.
Major Leadership Change in Amazon’s AI Strategy
The leadership reshuffle was communicated internally by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who described the move as a strategic step aimed at accelerating innovation across artificial intelligence, custom silicon, and quantum computing. Under the new structure, Peter DeSantis will oversee a unified organization that brings together Amazon’s AI model development, chip design, and advanced computing initiatives.
This restructuring comes at a time when major technology companies are aggressively investing in generative AI, foundation models, and next-generation computing infrastructure. Amazon’s decision reflects the growing importance of tighter integration between AI software and the hardware that powers it.
Rohit Prasad’s Exit Marks a Key Transition
Rohit Prasad, who served as Amazon’s top AI executive and head of the Artificial General Intelligence group, is set to leave the company after more than a decade. Prasad joined Amazon in 2013 and played a critical role in shaping the company’s AI vision, including the development of Alexa, advancements in conversational AI, and the creation of Amazon’s foundation models.
During his tenure, Prasad helped build multiple AI teams and guided Amazon’s entry into large-scale model development. His leadership was instrumental in laying the groundwork for Amazon’s generative AI offerings, even as competition in the sector intensified.
According to internal discussions, Prasad’s departure was a personal decision following the completion of major organizational milestones. Amazon leadership publicly acknowledged his contributions and credited him with building strong technical foundations and high-performing teams.
Peter DeSantis Takes Charge of Expanded AI Organization
Peter DeSantis, a 27-year Amazon veteran, has been promoted to lead the newly expanded AI division. Previously serving as a senior executive within Amazon Web Services, DeSantis has been deeply involved in the company’s cloud infrastructure and hardware innovation.
He played a key role in launching Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud and later led initiatives that resulted in Amazon developing its own custom silicon, including processors designed to support AI workloads. His new role places him at the center of Amazon’s AI ambitions, with responsibility spanning AI models, cloud infrastructure, chip development, and quantum computing research.
DeSantis will report directly to CEO Andy Jassy, underscoring the strategic importance of AI to Amazon’s long-term growth and competitiveness.
Reason Behind the AI Leadership Restructuring
The leadership change is widely viewed as part of Amazon’s broader effort to streamline its AI operations and accelerate product development. By consolidating AI research, hardware design, and emerging technologies under a single leader, Amazon aims to improve execution speed and innovation efficiency.
The restructuring also reflects the increasing complexity of AI development, where breakthroughs depend not only on software models but also on specialized hardware and computing architectures. Amazon believes that unified leadership will enable better coordination across these areas.
Additional AI Leadership Appointments
As part of the reorganization, Amazon has also elevated experienced AI researchers to key roles within the new structure. These leaders will focus on frontier model research, robotics, and next-generation AI capabilities, further strengthening Amazon’s technical bench.
What This Means for Amazon’s AI Future
Amazon’s AI leadership overhaul highlights the company’s determination to remain competitive in an industry undergoing rapid transformation. With generative AI reshaping consumer technology, enterprise software, and cloud services, Amazon is positioning itself to deliver more integrated and scalable AI solutions.
As Peter DeSantis takes charge of the expanded AI division and Rohit Prasad prepares to exit, industry observers will closely watch how Amazon executes its AI roadmap. The changes mark a pivotal moment in Amazon’s technology strategy, one that could shape the company’s role in the next phase of artificial intelligence innovation.