In this episode, we explore Amazon Ring’s newly introduced Familiar Faces feature that utilizes AI for facial recognition. We discuss the convenience of identifying familiar people at your doorstep, the privacy concerns it raises, and the legal implications surrounding biometric data. Learn about how this feature works, potential inaccuracies, and privacy laws in certain U.S. […]
ICE protests surveillance yet uses tech to track citizens' devices, possibly violating privacy laws and the Fourth Amendment, revealed through ICE's data tools.
A supply chain vulnerability in AWS CodeBuild recently put the entire AWS Console at risk. Learn how Wiz Research found the flaw and how Amazon responded to prevent a global security crisis.
Wiz Research has uncovered CodeBreach, a critical vulnerability in AWS CodeBuild CI/CD pipelines that could have enabled the complete takeover of the AWS JavaScript SDK repository and potentially compromised the AWS Console itself. The flaw placed 66% of cloud environments at risk through this widely-used library. The vulnerability stemmed from an unanchored regex pattern in […]
Researchers have discovered VoidLink, a sophisticated new Linux malware framework designed to infiltrate AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure. Learn how this Chinese-affiliated toolkit uses adaptive stealth to stay hidden.
XRP has racked up major wins recently, from regulatory breakthroughs to network upgrades, yet its price continues to slide. A crypto analyst has shared insights into why this is happening, outlining several developments this week that would typically act as bullish catalysts for the XRP price, but have so far failed to push the token out of its downtrend and propel its value to new highs.
XRP Sees Four Major Developments In One Week
Despite experiencing four major developments in just one week, the XRP price has shown little reaction. Crypto market expert Chain Cartel has pointed out that while many traders focus on immediate price movements, Ripple Labs, the developer of XRP, is quietly building the infrastructure that could position it as a key system of record for digital settlements.
The analyst suggested that the market overlooks structural developments, underestimating their impact on long-term growth. He highlighted rumors of Ripple’s collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) as one of this week’s major events, noting that the alleged partnership explores the use of Amazon Bedrock AI for the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
With this integration, XRPL system logs that used to take days to process can be analyzed in just minutes. According to Cartel, this is not an “hype AI,” but a development focused on improving security and scalability, and on giving institutions better visibility into XRP.
In his post, Cartel also highlighted Ripple’s regulatory progress in the UK. He announced that the UK subsidiary of the crypto company has not been registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, which is known as one of the world’s strictest financial regulators. He stressed that this approval is a significant milestone for Ripple, boosting its compliance credentials and international credibility.
In addition to achieving even greater regulatory clarity, Cartel highlighted Ripple’s partnership with The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as another key development. BNY Mellon recently launched tokenized deposit services for institutional clients, and Ripple Prime, a digital asset prime brokerage platform created after Ripple acquired Hidden Road, is among the first users. Even more important, the analyst said that BNY Mellon remains the primary reserve custodian for RLUSD, showing a direct integration between traditional banking and digital settlement rails.
Finally, Cartel mentioned the upcoming vote on the CLARITY Act by the US Senate Banking Committee scheduled for January 15. This bill will decide how crypto trading, settlements, and connections to financial systems are regulated in the future. The analyst said that if the bill is passed, it could affect how institutions interact with XRP and the broader crypto market.
Why The XRP Price Is Still In A Downtrend
Despite all these developments and milestones, Cartel noted that XRP’s price has barely moved over the week, still trading around $2.0. The analyst stated that the reason the cryptocurrency keeps moving lower is that it reacts less to hype and more to the completion of key infrastructure.
According to Cartel, these developments are building significant pressure in the market. He described XRP’s situation as a compression before a violent release, suggesting that the cryptocurrency could experience a sharp price rally once the foundational systems are fully in place.
A rendering of Ring’s new Mobile Security Trailer deployed in a parking lot, showing its solar-powered base and 360-degree camera designed to monitor commercial sites such as retail centers, construction projects, and outdoor events. (Ring Image)
Amazon’s Ring is rolling out a $5,000 solar-powered surveillance trailer for parking lots, construction sites, and events — part of a broader expansion beyond the doorbell and into commercial security.
The new Ring Mobile Security Trailer, announced Tuesday morning at CES, is designed to be an alternative to the heavy-duty rigs often seen at industrial sites. It uses a 360-degree camera with 4k resolution, which the company says ensures high-definition visibility without blind spots.
Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018, has renewed its focus on security under Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, who returned to the tech giant last year after his 2023 departure.
The move puts Ring in more direct competition with commercial security players like Verkada and Motorola Solutions, which sell cloud-connected cameras and mobile surveillance systems, and traditional industrial providers such as Bosch and Hikvision known for rugged security gear.
Ring’s strategy appears to be leveraging its brand recognition in residential security and Amazon’s infrastructure — including Amazon Sidewalk connectivity and AWS cloud services — to undercut competitors on price as part of a larger system that bridges home and business security.
Set for release this spring, Ring’s trailer can run on line power with battery backup or operate fully off-grid via solar panels. It comes with built-in LTE connectivity, meaning it requires no external internet infrastructure to work. It can also be detached and mounted in a truck bed or used as a standalone station, making it adaptable for temporary deployments like festivals.
It’s part of Ring’s new “Jobsite” security portfolio, which also includes a new Ring Elite camera line designed for large-scale business settings like logistics yards and campuses.
Separately, Ring introduced “Fire Watch,” a new feature developed in partnership with the non-profit Watch Duty. It provides real-time wildfire alerts directly within the Ring app and allows camera owners to voluntarily share periodic snapshots with first responders.
Apart from its new commercial offerings, the company announced several new residential security features and products.
“Unusual Event Alert” uses AI to learn a home’s routine patterns to filter out false alarms.
“Active Warnings” use computer vision to identify potential threats and play automated audio messages to deter intruders.
An updated Ring Car Alarm, available for pre-order today for $50, uses GPS and Sidewalk connectivity to track vehicles and send motion alerts even when parked remotely.
The new Ring Appstore marketplace will let third-party developers build specialized apps that integrate with Ring cameras and data.
A new line of sensors priced between $30 and $70 connects via Amazon Sidewalk to operate without Wi-Fi or hubs, covering security, safety, and smart controls.
Ring announced that the Sidewalk network itself is expanding globally, launching in Canada and Mexico in the coming months before reaching Europe, Australia, and Japan later this year.
Clockwise from top left: Amera CEO Deep Kapur; Clara CEO Melinda Yormick; Oikyo CEO Saptak Sen; and Specbook AI CEO Gordon Hempton.
Founders in the Seattle area are busy building software for health insurance, AI model tuning, construction processes, and hospital operations.
Our latest Startup Radar spotlights four early stage tech startups in the region: Amera, Clara, Oiyko, and Specbook AI.
Read on for brief descriptions of each company — along with pitch assessments from “Mean VC,” a GPT-powered critic offering a mix of encouragement and constructive criticism.
Check out past Startup Radar posts here, and email me at taylor@geekwire.com to flag other companies and startup news.
The business: Targeting health insurance payers with software that automates the claims processing workflow. Its product converts medical claim documents into structured data, replacing manual entry and supporting newer payment models. Amera is generating revenue, working with multiple plan administrators, and participating in the Fall 2025 cohort at Y Combinator.
Leadership: CEO Deep Kapur previously worked at Microsoft, Protocol Labs, and most recently Rupa Health. Co-founder Louise Tanski was also at Rupa Health and co-founded QueryStax (acquired by Moonshot Brands).
Mean VC: “You’re solving a real pain point in healthcare admin, and early revenue plus YC traction suggest you’re on the right track. The key will be proving your structured data actually drives measurable cost or accuracy improvements — not just faster paperwork.”
The business: A self-described “AI-powered operating room orchestration” platform for hospitals. Clara aims to be like Apple’s “Find My” app, but for patient care, helping hospital staff quickly locate equipment and people. The company has raised around $375,000 and is working with a lab at the University of Washington on a non-clinical pilot.
Leadership: CEO Melinda Yormick has more than a decade of operating room experience as a registered nurse and nurse manager. She was named a 2025 “Up and Comer” at the PSBJ Healthcare Leadership Awards. Co-founder Aaron Cooke was previously a senior software engineer at Viome and Julep.
Mean VC: “The problem is clear to anyone who’s worked in a hospital, and your background gives you credibility where it counts. But unless you can tie this to patient outcomes or hard ROI, hospital budgets may treat it as a luxury.”
The business: Helps companies fine-tune AI models using their own data, enabling employees to add business-specific context. The company is participating in WTIA’s startup accelerator.
Leadership: Co-founders Saptak Sen and Suchi Mohan first met at Microsoft in India in 2001. Sen, the CEO at Oiyko, was most recently a vice president at Tetrate and head of container integrations at AWS. Mohan was a senior technical program manager at Microsoft for more than four years.
Mean VC: “Fine-tuning with business context is a sharp idea, especially as enterprises grow wary of generic AI outputs. Still, you’ll need to show how you differ from the wave of enterprise LLM tooling coming from giants and better-funded peers.”
The business: Builds AI agents for industrial and civic projects that can quickly analyze data and perform tasks such as design reviews and reviewing construction submittals. Specbook AI is working with large construction companies and municipalities. Contracted revenue is in the six figures.
Leadership: Co-founders Gordon Hempton and Wes Hather co-founded Outreach, the Seattle-based sales software company. More recently they launched two startups: B2B sales software company FullContext and virtual work platform Spot.
Mean VC: “Digitizing construction reviews and civic workflows is overdue, and six-figure contracts suggest you’re solving a real pain. To scale, you’ll need to prove your product can handle diverse requirements without slipping into custom consulting.”
What Emergency Responders Recommend for Off-Roading Drivers What Emergency Responders Recommend for Off-Roading Drivers. Can be exciting, but it comes with serious risks. Remote trails, sudden weather changes, and tricky terrain can create emergencies where help is far away. That’s why off-roading driver safety tips are essential. Off roading can be a thrilling experience, but […]
Amazon SVP Rohit Prasad speaks at a Madrona event in Seattle in October. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop)
Rohit Prasad, the executive who has led Amazon’s artificial intelligence initiatives and overseen the creation of its homegrown Nova AI models, is leaving the company at the end of the year.
In a memo Wednesday morning, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy named Peter DeSantis, a 27-year company veteran and top cloud infrastructure executive, to lead a new organization that combines its Nova and model research teams with custom silicon and quantum computing.
AI researcher Pieter Abbeel, who joined the company last year when Amazon hired the founders of robotics startup Covariant, will lead the frontier model research team within Amazon’s AGI organization, while continuing his work with the company’s robotics team, according to Jassy’s memo.
News of Prasad’s departure comes two weeks after Amazon unveiled its Nova 2 models at its annual re:Invent conference. The company is attempting to close the gap with AI rivals including OpenAI and Google in the race to develop increasingly capable AI systems.
Prasad joined Amazon in 2013 during the early days of Alexa and was named senior vice president and head scientist for artificial general intelligence in mid-2023 as part of a broader effort to recharge the company’s AI initiatives in the face of stiff competition.
Peter DeSantis at AWS re:Invent 2025. (Amazon Photo)
In his memo, Jassy framed the reorganization as an effort to unify Amazon’s most important AI bets at an “inflection point” for the technologies. The new organization will bring together Amazon’s most expansive AI models, including Nova and AGI, with its custom silicon development group, which builds chips including Graviton, Trainium, and Nitro, as well as its quantum computing efforts.
DeSantis, who will report directly to Jassy, has led some of Amazon’s biggest technical initiatives. He launched Amazon EC2, the company’s core cloud computing infrastructure, oversaw the acquisition of chip designer Annapurna Labs in 2015, and most recently ran AWS Utility Computing, which includes compute, storage, database, and AI services.
Jassy called him a leader with “unusual technical depth” and a track record of “solving problems at the edge of what’s technically possible.”
Prasad’s departure was mentioned toward the end of Jassy’s memo, with the Amazon CEO saying that Prasad “has built a strong team, differentiated technology, growing customer momentum, and a culture of ambitious invention.” The memo described the departure as Prasad’s decision, calling him “missionary, passionate, and selfless” and thanking him for “everything he’s built here.”
It’s not yet clear what Prasad will do next.
In a separate memo, AWS CEO Matt Garman laid out a new internal structure consisting of seven AWS groups: Compute, Platform, and AI Services (led by Dave Brown); Storage and Analytics (Mai-Lan Tomsen Bukovec); Databases (G2 Krishnamoorthy); Security and Observability (Chet Kapoor); Agentic AI (Swami Sivasubramanian); Applied AI Solutions (Colleen Aubrey); and Infrastructure and Region Services (Prasad Kalyanaraman).
Amazon has positioned itself as a major player in enterprise AI through its Bedrock platform. Its Nova models are competitive on industry benchmarks. The Nova Forge service, launched at re:Invent, lets businesses and developers customize models using their own data.
Separately at re:Invent, the company unveiled a series of “frontier agents,” aiming to get ahead of the industry’s push toward autonomous AI systems for businesses.
But Amazon is still generally viewed as a fast follower in generative AI, trailing OpenAI, Google, and others in the perception of frontier model capabilities. Amazon has partnered closely with Claude maker Anthropic as a counterpunch to Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI.
More recently, Amazon has also been in discussions to invest $10 billion or more in OpenAI, according to a report this week from The Information, citing three people familiar with the talks.
In an interview with GeekWire at re:Invent, Prasad gave no hint that he was preparing to leave. He described Nova Forge as “a game changer” and said the company was focused on proving that AI could deliver real value for its business customers.
Prasad took a pragmatic view of artificial general intelligence, pushing back on what he described as Silicon Valley’s tendency to portray AGI as “some kind of a god power.” He spoke instead of developing “generally intelligent systems that you can specialize for your purpose.”
Colleen Aubrey, AWS senior vice president of Applied AI Solutions, speaks during the AWS re:Invent keynote about the company’s push toward AI “teammates” and agentic development. (Amazon Photo)
LAS VEGAS — Speaking this week on the Amazon Web Services re:Invent stage, AWS executive Colleen Aubrey delivered a prediction that doubled as a wake-up call for companies still thinking of AI as just another tool.
“I believe that over the next few years, agentic teammates can be essential to every team — as essential as the people sitting right next to you,” Aubrey said during the Wednesday keynote. “They will fundamentally transform how companies build and deliver for their customers.”
But what does that look like in practice? On her own team, for example, Aubrey says she challenged groups that once had 50 people taking nine months to deliver a new product to do the same with 10 people working for three months.
Meanwhile, non-engineers such as finance analysts are building working prototypes using AI tools, contributing code in Amazon’s Kiro agentic development tool alongside engineers, and feeding those prototypes into Amazon’s famous PR/FAQ planning process on weekly cycles.
Those are some of the details that Aubrey shared when we sat down with her after the keynote at the GeekWire Studios booth in the re:Invent expo hall to dig into the themes from her talk. Aubrey is senior vice president of Applied AI Solutions at AWS, overseeing the company’s push into business applications for call centers, supply chains, and other sectors.
Continue reading for takeaways from the conversation, watch the video below, and listen to the conversation starting in the second segment of this week’s GeekWire Podcast.
The ‘teammate’ mental model changes everything. Aubrey draws a clear line between single-purpose AI tools that do one thing well and the agentic teammates she sees emerging — systems that take responsibility for whole objectives, and require a different kind of management.
“I think people will increasingly be managers of AI,” she said. “The days of having to do the individual keystrokes ourselves, I think, are fast fading. And in fact, everyone is going to be a manager now. You have to think about prioritization, delegation, and auditing. What’s the quality of our feedback, providing coaching. What are the guardrails?”
Amazon Connect crosses $1 billion. AWS’s call center platform reached $1 billion in annual revenue on a run rate basis, with Aubrey noting it has accelerated year-over-year growth for two consecutive years.
This week at re:Invent, the team announced 29 new capabilities across four areas: Nova Sonic voice interaction that Aubrey says is “very close to being indistinguishable” from human conversation; agents that complete tasks on behalf of customers; clickstream intelligence for product recommendations; and observability tools for inspecting AI reasoning.
One interesting detail: Aubrey said she’s often surprised by Nova Sonic’s sophistication and empathy in complex conversations — and equally surprised when it fails at basic tasks like spelling an address correctly.
“There’s still work to do to really polish that,” she said.
The ROI question gets a “yes and no.” Asked whether companies are seeing the business value to justify AI agent investments, Aubrey offered a nuanced response. “I observe companies to struggle to realize the business impact,” she said. But she said the value often shows up as eliminating bottlenecks — clearing backlogs, erasing technical debt, accelerating security patching — rather than immediate revenue gains.
“I’m not going to see the impact on my P&L today,” she said, “but if I fast forward a year, I’m going to have a product in market where real customers are using and getting real value, and we’re learning and iterating where I might not have even been halfway there in the past.”
Her advice for companies still hesitating: “If you don’t start today, that’s a one way door decision… I think you have to start the journey today. I would suggest people get focused, they get moving, because if you don’t, I think that becomes existential.”
Trust requires observability. Aubrey says companies won’t get full value from AI teammates if they can’t see how they’re reasoning.
“If you don’t trust an AI teammate, then you’re never going to realize the full benefit,” she said. “You’re not going to give them the hard tasks, you’re not going to invest in their development.”
The solution is treating AI inspection the same way you’d manage a human colleague: understand why it took an action, audit the quality, and iterate.
“You can refine your knowledge bases. You can refine your workflows. You can refine your guardrails, and then confidently keep iterating… the same way we do with each other. We keep iterating, we keep learning, and we keep getting better,” she said.
Product updates: Beyond Connect, Aubrey offered updates on other parts of her portfolio of Amazon’s applied AI solutions.
Just Walk Out, Amazon’s cashierless checkout technology, deployed more than 150 new stores in 2025 and should accelerate next year.
AWS Supply Chain, meanwhile, is getting a reset. “I’m going to declare that a pivot,” she said, with a Q1 announcement coming around agentic decision-making for supply and demand planning.
Also coming in Q1: a life sciences product focused on antibody discovery, currently in beta.
She teased “a few other new investment areas” expected to come in early 2026.
Amazon is experimenting again. This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we dig into our scoop on Amazon Now, the company’s new ultrafast delivery service. Plus, we recap the GeekWire team’s ride in a Zoox robotaxi on the Las Vegas Strip during Amazon Web Services re:Invent.
In our featured interview from the expo hall, AWS Senior Vice President Colleen Aubrey discusses Amazon’s push into applied AI, why the company sees AI agents as “teammates,” and how her team is rethinking product development in the age of agentic coding.
A significant shift has occurred in the data storage landscape over the last 10 years. Legacy environments saw data centers full of physical servers on racks, all taking up space in climate-controlled rooms with teams of database administrators overseeing operations 24x7. Cloud database management, by contrast, is at the heart of next-generation digital infrastructure. Businesses are processing workloads as never before and cloud database management is what allows them to do this while scaling down maintenance and increasing business agility.
• AWS Singapore Innovation Hub shows the company’s shift from technology-led to business-driven, turning use cases into commercial applications.
• The F1 partnership showcases AI and cloud innovation, but also AWS’ capabilities with real-time data intensive analytics and insights.
AWS held an analyst day in Singapore, showcasing its Innovation Hub and the partnership with Formula 1 (F1).
AWS Innovation Hub
At the innovation hub, AWS demonstrated a diverse range of AI and cloud enabled use cases – from document analytics and loan processing for BFSI, to preventive maintenance and AI-driven surveillance in manufacturing. The facility also houses many other industry-specific use cases with additional use cases in the pipeline. This initiative reflects AWS’ ongoing shift from a technology-focused to a business-led engagement model. While technologies remain at the core, the company is deepening collaboration with enterprise leaders beyond IT, engaging directly with business executives and functional owners. Leadership, culture, and people are key enablers of successful digital transformation. The Innovation Hub serves as a platform for enterprises to explore and co-develop use cases tailored to their business needs.
Innovation labs are not new. Many other providers like global system integrators, telcos, and tech vendors, have been opening new facilities over the last few years. It is a proven way to drive adoption of emerging technologies through solution co-development, commercialization and ecosystem expansion. Besides, innovation labs can also strengthen providers’ brand share and enable them to gain deeper market knowledge such as understanding customers’ pain points. The use cases demonstrated at the AWS facility were innovative and promising, but most are somewhat comparable to use cases found in other providers’ facilities. But what differentiates AWS is its strong execution. Over 70% of the use cases have been brought into production. This is consistent with its strategy to expand focus on outcome-led engagements, and a strong proof point that the efforts are not just conceptual but outcome-driven.
AWS x F1
In the latter part of the event, there were sessions with executives at the track sites including a visit to the F1 Event Technical Center (ETC), sharing how the AWS and F1 collaboration is driving innovation and enabling various use cases for F1, teams, drivers, fans, and viewers. Since the partnership began in 2018, AWS has evolved from providing core cloud infrastructure to powering advanced AI solutions. Early deployments include leveraging over 1,000 AWS compute cores for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) projects to design race cars. Today, the partnership extends to AI applications including real-time insights, car performance, race strategy, issue resolutions/root cause analysis, fan engagement (e.g., hyper-personalization), game strategy, and safety and reliability.
Sports, as one of the most data-intensive industries in the world, offers an ideal testbed for real-time analytics. For example, an F1 car alone carries around 300 sensors, generating over one million telemetry data points per second with a total of 600TB across entire race. Similarly, a football match generates about 3.6 million data points. Furthermore, data from sports events are often highly fragmented (structured and unstructured) and need to be processed in real-time. Apart from F1, AWS is also an official technology partner in various major global sports events such as the NFL, PGA Tour, Bundesliga, NHL, and many other sports teams. While sports in APAC are not as big as in other regions such as the US and Europe, AWS collaborations with F1 and other sports organizations show its leadership in this industry. More importantly, it can also be seen as a powerful platform to demonstrate its broad capabilities and innovation in complex and data-rich environments.
Login
.webp?ssl=1)
