Amazon launches open-source decision model in response to rising demand for automation-focused AI

Amazon Web Services has released Strands Decider 2B, an open-source decision model inspired by TypeSafe’s Jev. Available now, it is designed for high-speed, low-cost sorting of pre-decided options and provides confidence scores. Built on Qen3.5-2B, it runs locally. Marc Brooker, a distinguished engineer at Amazon, developed it after testing his own version, which briefly topped the Jevbench ranking. Brooker noted the need for such tools arose from AWS customers seeking reliable, structured workflow steps with lower latency and cost. TypeSafe’s Jev, named after economist William Stanley Jevons, reflects the theory that decreasing costs can increase demand. While dozens of similar models have emerged, Brooker emphasized the challenge of balancing speed with accuracy and general-purpose intelligence. TypeSafe’s CEO, Diogo Almeida, stated current models seem more like experimental implementations than serious competition. The release of Strands Decider 2B comes amid a surge in decision models, with OpenAI also launching a similar offering. Almeida warned that making truly intelligent models is difficult, and the cost to build something meaningful is relatively low. Meanwhile, other notable AI developments include AMD’s acquisition of Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2B, Instinct’s $1B Series C funding, and the Pentagon’s collaboration with Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey on military AI decisions.