By Greg Bensinger and Dawn Chmielewski
SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos has identified a new, high-profile platform to help showcase the hundreds of billions of dollars Amazon has bet on artificial intelligence: Prime Video.
The Amazon founder and executive chairman pushed Prime Video head Mike Hopkins to overhaul the streaming service so that AI is front and center, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The resulting project, known internally as Lighthouse, would
shine a light on Amazon’s AI capabilities for the more than 200 million consumers who use Prime Video.
Lighthouse is viewed as one critical piece in Amazon’s companywide efforts to elevate the company’s stature in artificial intelligence, as competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic speed ahead, the people said. Other AI initiatives, such as the multiyear overhaul of its Alexa voice assistant to provide more conversational responses, have had mixed results and the unit is still losing money, people familiar with the matter have previously told Reuters.
Amazon declined to comment.
CONTENTIOUS MEETING SPARKED OVERHAUL
The Prime Video initiative grew out of an internal presentation the streaming service’s executives made to Bezos last autumn that turned contentious, according to these people.
Bezos was displeased that Hopkins' plans to update Prime Video failed to sufficiently highlight the service’s capabilities in AI and personalization, according to the people. Bezos' response prompted the Prime Video executives to scrap their previous plans and embark on Lighthouse.
The company has committed some $200 billion to capital expenditures this year, related primarily to developing AI, and invested an initial $23 billion in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Anthropic combined, with the potential for upwards of another $40 billion.
Lighthouse entails a broad swath of new features that use AI to improve film and TV recommendations, in part by learning consumers' preferences, and responding to spoken requests, according to one person with knowledge of the project who spoke on condition of anonymity. Prime Video is working on redesigning the main home page as part of the project, the other people said.
The final redesign has not yet been settled, but one option Prime Video executives discussed includes AI-driven tiles, with pre-populated viewing suggestions like “action movies from the 1980s” or “Christmas rom-coms,” three of the people said. Another source said a current version does not include text-heavy tiles.
The traditional search function would remain, as well as space at the top of the screen for video highlights promoting new releases or sporting events, such as “Thursday Night Football,” the weekly National Football League game that is exclusive to Amazon.
Amazon is already testing versions of the redesign with a few users, said one of the people. Prime Video's plans, the people said, could change due to feedback from early testers, or financial or other concerns.
Prime Video, like other streaming services, relies on paid placement by studios, as well as software algorithms, to dictate where content is displayed on the home screen, said Michael Goodman, director of entertainment research for Parks Associates. Any change to that, including through greater personalization, could upend that system, he said.
“The real estate on the home screen is very valuable to studios, so it would be a big change to take away any of that coveted space,” said Goodman.
FOUNDER'S PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT
Bezos has been personally involved in the Prime Video overhaul, the people said, including receiving occasional updates, underscoring the stakes for a company battling a reputation for subpar AI foundation models. Improved personalization can lead to more hours spent on the service.
His involvement with the Prime Video project is unusual as he has taken a step back from most day-to-day operations at Amazon since relinquishing the CEO title in 2021. He also owns the Washington Post and is the founder of spaceflight firm Blue Origin and AI startup Prometheus, reportedly valued at around $41 billion. He has focused more of his attention on those projects.
Prime Video is one of Amazon's best-known brands and is available to consumers in a number of markets where Amazon has limited or no e-commerce presence. Beyond no-cost shipping, Prime Video is the Prime subscription's most-used offering.
As part of the Lighthouse project, Amazon has also discussed integrating the Alexa voice assistant into Prime Video’s search function, the people said. Amazon in early 2025 released an overhauled generative AI version of Alexa, and integrated it into its main shopping site in May 2026.
Kam Keshmiri, global head of the Prime Video design, was also at the meeting with Bezos and is now leading the Lighthouse redesign, the people said.
PRIME VIDEO'S MARKET POSITION
In the U.S., Prime Video is the fourth most-watched streaming service, but it is prized by Bezos, who frequents high-profile Hollywood events and owns a $165 million home in Beverly Hills.
Amazon became the first streaming service to win an Academy Award in a major category. The company deepened its commitment to entertainment in 2022 when it paid $8.5 billion to buy MGM, giving it access to many well-known entertainment franchises, including James Bond.
Prime Video’s 4.2% share of television viewing in the U.S. trails YouTube with 13.4%, Netflix at 7.8% and Walt Disney's Disney+ at 5%, according to April data from Nielsen. Still, many Prime Video members spend hours a week consuming content on the platform, and the company wants to further hone its personalization capabilities through AI.
The service released a significant redesign in July 2024, aimed at making it easier for users to distinguish between what content is free and what costs extra, such as subscriptions to Paramount+ and TV shows and movies that require a rental fee.
Amazon wants Prime Video to be users’ central hub for paid subscriptions.
(Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Edmund Lee and Matthew Lewis)
