Amazon cranks up AI competition against Microsoft, Google with new cloud tools

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's cloud computing division on Thursday released a suite of technologies aimed at helping other companies develop their own chatbots and image-generation services backed by artificial intelligence.

Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc are adding AI chatbots to consumer products like their search engines, but they are also eying another huge market: selling the underlying technology to other companies via their cloud operations.