Amazon hires Microsoft's former Copilot CTO

What happened: Amazon hired Pedram Rezaei, Microsoft's former Copilot CTO, as a distinguished engineer in AWS's Agentic AI and Emerging Technologies group. He will initially work on Quick and Kiro. Key numbers: Rezaei spent over 20 years at Microsoft and was Copilot CTO until June. Quick's monthly AI users grew 4x from Q1 to Q2; Kiro's user base doubled. Why it matters: The hire gives Amazon an experienced builder from a rival as it pushes into AI agents, where offerings like OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are gaining traction. Microsoft also faces executive departures.

Amazon hired Pedram Rezaei, Microsoft's former Copilot CTO, as a distinguished engineer in AWS's Agentic AI and Emerging Technologies group. He will initially work on Quick and Kiro.

The hire gives Amazon an experienced builder from a rival as it pushes into AI agents, where offerings like OpenAI's Dots and Meta's Muse are gaining traction. Microsoft also faces executive departures.