Amazon Launches Nova Act: AI Agent Masters Web Browser Control
April 10, 2025
BruceSmith
16
Amazon dropped some big news on Monday with the launch of Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent that can take the reins of a web browser and carry out simple tasks on its own. Alongside this new agentic AI model, Amazon is rolling out the Nova Act SDK, a toolkit that lets developers whip up agent prototypes using Nova Act.
Developed by Amazon's newly opened AGI lab in San Francisco, Nova Act is set to juice up the upcoming Alexa+ upgrade, a souped-up version of Amazon's beloved voice assistant with generative AI smarts. The version of Nova Act hitting the scene today is a bit rough around the edges, though. Amazon's calling it a research preview.
Developers can get their hands on the Nova Act toolkit over at nova.amazon.com, which also doubles as a showcase for Amazon's various Nova foundation models.
With Nova Act, Amazon's throwing its hat into the ring against OpenAI's Operator and Anthropic's Computer Use, aiming to bring its own general-purpose AI agent tech to the table. Big tech players reckon AI agents that can surf the web for users will make today's AI chatbots way more handy.
Amazon might not be the first to jump on this agentic tech bandwagon, but with Alexa+, it could reach the widest audience yet.
Amazon says that with the Nova Act SDK, developers should be able to automate basic stuff for users, like ordering salads from Sweetgreen or snagging dinner reservations. The Nova Act toolkit lets developers cobble together tools that let an AI agent navigate web pages, fill out forms, or pick dates on a calendar.
Amazon claims Nova Act outshines agents from OpenAI and Anthropic in several of its internal tests. For instance, on the ScreenSpot Web Text test, which checks how an AI agent deals with text on a screen, Nova Act scored a solid 94%, beating out OpenAI's CUA (88%) and Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet (90%).
However, Amazon didn't put Nova Act through the wringer with more common agent evaluations like WebVoyager.
Nova Act marks the first public product from Amazon's AGI lab, a project co-led by former OpenAI researchers David Luan and Pieter Abbeel. Both had their own startups before—Luan with Adept and Abbeel with Covariant—before Amazon scooped them up last year to lead its AI agent charge.
It might seem odd for an AGI lab to be fiddling with AI agents that order salads, but Luan told TechCrunch that he sees agents as a stepping stone to building super-smart AI systems. He defines AGI as "an AI system that can help you do anything a human does on a computer."
Luan says his team built the Nova Act SDK to reliably automate quick, easy tasks and give developers the tools to decide when a human should step in during an agentic workflow. He's hoping it'll help developers create more dependable agentic apps, even if they're not fully autonomous.
Amazon's entering the generalist AI agent game in a packed field, but it's a key tech that the company's betting big on. Early tests of Nova Act might give us a sneak peek at what the long-awaited Alexa+ can do, which could be a make-or-break moment for Amazon's AI ambitions.
One big issue with early AI agents from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic is their reliability across different areas. In TechCrunch's tests, these systems are slow, struggle to work independently for long, and often make mistakes a human wouldn't. It won't be long before we find out if Amazon's cracked the code—or if its agents have the same issues as the competition.
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Comments (40)
0/200
![JasonJones]()
JasonJones
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
Amazon's Nova Act is pretty cool, it's like having a personal assistant in my browser! It does simple tasks pretty well, but sometimes it gets confused and messes things up. Not perfect, but it's a good start. Maybe next update can make it smarter?
0
![JamesCarter]()
JamesCarter
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
アマゾンのNova Actは便利ですね、ブラウザ内で個人的なアシスタントがいるみたい！簡単なタスクはうまくこなすけど、時々混乱して失敗することも。完璧じゃないけど、良いスタートだと思います。次のアップデートでもっと賢くなってほしいな。
0
![BrianAdams]()
BrianAdams
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
O Nova Act da Amazon é bem legal, parece ter um assistente pessoal no meu navegador! Faz tarefas simples bem, mas às vezes se confunde e erra. Não é perfeito, mas é um bom começo. Talvez a próxima atualização possa torná-lo mais inteligente?
0
![AvaHill]()
AvaHill
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
El Nova Act de Amazon está bastante bien, ¡es como tener un asistente personal en mi navegador! Realiza tareas simples bastante bien, pero a veces se confunde y lo arruina todo. No es perfecto, pero es un buen comienzo. ¿Quizás la próxima actualización lo haga más inteligente?
0
![HarryAllen]()
HarryAllen
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
Amazon's Nova Act ist ziemlich cool, es ist, als hätte man einen persönlichen Assistenten im Browser! Es erledigt einfache Aufgaben ganz gut, aber manchmal wird es verwirrt und macht Fehler. Nicht perfekt, aber ein guter Anfang. Vielleicht kann die nächste Aktualisierung es schlauer machen?
0
![GeorgeLopez]()
GeorgeLopez
April 11, 2025 at 2:18:57 AM GMT
Nova Act is pretty cool, it's like having a little helper in my browser doing stuff for me. It's not perfect though, sometimes it gets confused and messes up simple tasks. But hey, it's a start and I'm excited to see where it goes from here. Keep improving, Amazon!
0
April 10, 2025
BruceSmith
16
Amazon dropped some big news on Monday with the launch of Nova Act, a general-purpose AI agent that can take the reins of a web browser and carry out simple tasks on its own. Alongside this new agentic AI model, Amazon is rolling out the Nova Act SDK, a toolkit that lets developers whip up agent prototypes using Nova Act.
Developed by Amazon's newly opened AGI lab in San Francisco, Nova Act is set to juice up the upcoming Alexa+ upgrade, a souped-up version of Amazon's beloved voice assistant with generative AI smarts. The version of Nova Act hitting the scene today is a bit rough around the edges, though. Amazon's calling it a research preview.
Developers can get their hands on the Nova Act toolkit over at nova.amazon.com, which also doubles as a showcase for Amazon's various Nova foundation models.
With Nova Act, Amazon's throwing its hat into the ring against OpenAI's Operator and Anthropic's Computer Use, aiming to bring its own general-purpose AI agent tech to the table. Big tech players reckon AI agents that can surf the web for users will make today's AI chatbots way more handy.
Amazon might not be the first to jump on this agentic tech bandwagon, but with Alexa+, it could reach the widest audience yet.
Amazon says that with the Nova Act SDK, developers should be able to automate basic stuff for users, like ordering salads from Sweetgreen or snagging dinner reservations. The Nova Act toolkit lets developers cobble together tools that let an AI agent navigate web pages, fill out forms, or pick dates on a calendar.
Amazon claims Nova Act outshines agents from OpenAI and Anthropic in several of its internal tests. For instance, on the ScreenSpot Web Text test, which checks how an AI agent deals with text on a screen, Nova Act scored a solid 94%, beating out OpenAI's CUA (88%) and Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet (90%).
However, Amazon didn't put Nova Act through the wringer with more common agent evaluations like WebVoyager.
Nova Act marks the first public product from Amazon's AGI lab, a project co-led by former OpenAI researchers David Luan and Pieter Abbeel. Both had their own startups before—Luan with Adept and Abbeel with Covariant—before Amazon scooped them up last year to lead its AI agent charge.
It might seem odd for an AGI lab to be fiddling with AI agents that order salads, but Luan told TechCrunch that he sees agents as a stepping stone to building super-smart AI systems. He defines AGI as "an AI system that can help you do anything a human does on a computer."
Luan says his team built the Nova Act SDK to reliably automate quick, easy tasks and give developers the tools to decide when a human should step in during an agentic workflow. He's hoping it'll help developers create more dependable agentic apps, even if they're not fully autonomous.
Amazon's entering the generalist AI agent game in a packed field, but it's a key tech that the company's betting big on. Early tests of Nova Act might give us a sneak peek at what the long-awaited Alexa+ can do, which could be a make-or-break moment for Amazon's AI ambitions.
One big issue with early AI agents from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic is their reliability across different areas. In TechCrunch's tests, these systems are slow, struggle to work independently for long, and often make mistakes a human wouldn't. It won't be long before we find out if Amazon's cracked the code—or if its agents have the same issues as the competition.
亚马逊宣布Alexa+为“模型不可知论”
亚马逊揭幕了Alexa+：在纽约市最近举行的新闻稿中，AI帮助的新时代，亚马逊介绍了Alexa+，这是其受欢迎的AI助手的大量升级版本。根据亚马逊副总裁丹尼尔·劳斯（Daniel Rausch）的说法，Alexa+由“模型不可知论”系统提供动力，该系统动态选择最多
亚马逊的Alexa+：AI驱动的个人助理的新时代
如果您曾经希望自己的房屋可能会有些聪明，可以与您的日常工作相吻合，那么亚马逊的最新创新Alexa+可能只是您一直在寻找的答案。这不仅仅是另一个语音助手。就像拥有一个与您一起学习和成长的个人礼宾一样，
亚马逊现在为您提供从其他网站购买产品的服务
亚马逊目前正在其移动应用程序上试验新的“ For Me Buy”功能，该功能允许用户从其他网站购买产品而无需离开Amazon平台。这种创新的按钮利用了代理AI，这意味着亚马逊现在可以代表您购物，简化了购买PR
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
Amazon's Nova Act is pretty cool, it's like having a personal assistant in my browser! It does simple tasks pretty well, but sometimes it gets confused and messes things up. Not perfect, but it's a good start. Maybe next update can make it smarter?
0
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
アマゾンのNova Actは便利ですね、ブラウザ内で個人的なアシスタントがいるみたい！簡単なタスクはうまくこなすけど、時々混乱して失敗することも。完璧じゃないけど、良いスタートだと思います。次のアップデートでもっと賢くなってほしいな。
0
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
O Nova Act da Amazon é bem legal, parece ter um assistente pessoal no meu navegador! Faz tarefas simples bem, mas às vezes se confunde e erra. Não é perfeito, mas é um bom começo. Talvez a próxima atualização possa torná-lo mais inteligente?
0
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
El Nova Act de Amazon está bastante bien, ¡es como tener un asistente personal en mi navegador! Realiza tareas simples bastante bien, pero a veces se confunde y lo arruina todo. No es perfecto, pero es un buen comienzo. ¿Quizás la próxima actualización lo haga más inteligente?
0
April 10, 2025 at 8:36:42 PM GMT
Amazon's Nova Act ist ziemlich cool, es ist, als hätte man einen persönlichen Assistenten im Browser! Es erledigt einfache Aufgaben ganz gut, aber manchmal wird es verwirrt und macht Fehler. Nicht perfekt, aber ein guter Anfang. Vielleicht kann die nächste Aktualisierung es schlauer machen?
0
April 11, 2025 at 2:18:57 AM GMT
Nova Act is pretty cool, it's like having a little helper in my browser doing stuff for me. It's not perfect though, sometimes it gets confused and messes up simple tasks. But hey, it's a start and I'm excited to see where it goes from here. Keep improving, Amazon!
0
