Jeff Bezos explains Amazon's artificial intelligence and machine learning strategy

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appeared this week at the Internet Association's annual gala in Washington, D.C., taking part in a wide-ranging discussion about the online economy, media coverage of Amazon, the company's business principles, and even going off topic a bit to discuss his Blue Origin space venture. But Bezos seemed especially energized when Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman asked him about artificial intelligence and machine learning. "It is a renaissance, it is a golden age," Bezos said. "We are solving problems with machine learning and artificial intelligence that were in the realm of science fiction for the last several decades. Natural language understanding, machine vision problems, it really is an amazing renaissance." So how does Amazon see this playing out? "Machine learning and AI is a horizontal enabling layer.