Amazon might not have ChatGPT, but it has a roadmap that includes developing even more advanced forms of artificial intelligence--including AI agents that are hell-bent on helping you buy stuff. The ecommerce company is already sprinkling ChatGPT-like AI over its website and apps--today announcing, among other enhancements, AI-generated shopping guides for hundreds of different product categories. Executives at the company say its engineers are also exploring more ambitious AI services, including autonomous AI shopping agents that recommend goods to a customer or even add items to their cart. We're working on it, prototyping it, and when we think it's good enough, we'll release it in whatever form makes sense," says Trishul Chilimbi, a VP and distinguished scientist at Amazon who works on applying the company's core AI to its products and services. Chilimbi says the first step toward AI agents will likely be chatbots that proactively recommend products based on what they know of your habits and interests, as well as a grasp of broader trends.

Last week, a group of Amazon scientists and engineers gathered to dream big. The event was all about machine learning, a powerful type of artificial intelligence that has already transformed Amazon's business and those of other tech giants. What was different about this AI conclave was its focus on audacious possibilities in the medical field, such as using ML to revolutionize drug discovery, clinical trials, genomics and related areas. Insider obtained documents that reveal the topics, goals and challenges discussed. Together, they show Amazon's ambition to take on Google's DeepMind, a pioneer in AI-powered scientific discovery.

Amazon was just issued a patent for a UAV that can interpret gesture and vocal commands, a device that could in theory be used to deliver packages. First spotted by GeekWire, the patent describes a drone-like device outfitted with various sensors, cameras and other equipment that could recognize gestures such as a person waving it towards them or someone shooing it away. In some very entertaining illustrations, the patent shows the UAV approaching a human who's waving at it wildly. This isn't the only device that incorporates human gesture as a control mechanism. DJI's Spark drone can be directed with arm movement and a recent Samsung patent shows a drone that can track users' eyes, heads and hands and can be controlled through gesture.

Patents don't mean anything right up until the moment that they mean everything, so take it as read that none of this could happen. Amazon has, however, registered a patent for a concept that it's calling a "Multi-Level Fulfillment Center for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." Which is a fancy way of saying that it wants to build enormous cylindrical warehouses at the heart of towns and cities. Rather than delivery folks driving parcels to your home, the building will be jam-packed with drones, which fill fly in and out of the location's many windows. As much of an eyesore as it would be, Amazon's idea does solve a few fairly obvious problems with being a logistics company in a city. After all, warehouse space requires plenty of land, which is at a premium in a dense urban environment.