Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is one of the pioneers of the wide-scale commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI). Back in the 1990s, the company leveraged its massive data to provide personalized recommendations. It was a major differentiator and helped drive Amazon stock price higher. But when it comes to AI, much of the innovation has come during the past decade. This has been due to the explosion of Big Data, the emergence of new AI algorithms -- such as deep learning neural networks -- and the increased capabilities of graphics processing units and cloud computing.

One of the key reasons Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) stock is one of the most valuable on Wall Street -- with a market cap of $884 billion -- is that the company is willing to take bold initiatives. True, sometimes things fall short, as seen with the move into the smartphone business. But for the most part, CEO Jeff Bezos has been able to make the right strategic decisions and deploy resources in a disciplined way. Perhaps the best example of this is AWS (Amazon Web Services). Without this, AMZN stock would likely have a much lower valuation today. The irony is that the company was not the ideal player to be the winner in the cloud.