India uniquely positioned to see benefits of AI: Amazon exec David Zapolsky

Zapolsky spoke about how Amazon is balancing rapid AI innovation with evolving regulatory guardrails

India is uniquely positioned to benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) because of its scale, digital infrastructure, and entrepreneurial ecosystem, says David Zapolsky, chief global affairs and legal officer at Amazon. Speaking to Udisha Srivastav on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit, Zapolsky outlined how Amazon is balancing rapid AI innovation with evolving regulatory frameworks, the rise of agentic commerce, and how the company’s planned $35 billion investment by 2030 aims to anchor AI-led digitisation, exports, and job creation in India. Edited excerpts:

   

You have been with Amazon’s legal setup since 1999. How has the regulatory environment changed over the years, globally and in India?

 

Since I joined Amazon in 1999, regulators across regions have evolved their approach alongside the rapid growth of digital commerce, Cloud computing, and now AI — each progressing at different speeds in different markets. Globally, there has been a shift from broad, one-size-fits-all approaches to more sector-specific frameworks. Data protection, competition, consumer protection, and AI governance now each have their own regulatory architecture.

 

Governments today are focused on ensuring innovation happens responsibly, with strong safeguards around privacy, safety, and transparency.

 

India reflects this global evolution. The country has built one of the world’s most dynamic digital public infrastructure ecosystems while simultaneously developing forward-looking regulatory frameworks.

 

Amazon has had several run-ins with the government. How does that impact the company?

 

We have invested $40 billion in India through 2024 and plan to invest another $35 billion. These figures reflect our long-term commitment to India’s digital economy and the customers who depend on it. Regulatory evolution is happening globally as governments respond to technological change.

 

As a company operating across many jurisdictions, our responsibility is straightforward — to comply with the laws of every country where we operate and to engage constructively with policymakers to support balanced, forward-looking regulation.

 

In India, our focus has remained consistent: serving customers better, helping sellers grow, and investing in long-term infrastructure that supports the country’s digital economy.

 

Amazon operates across Cloud, e-commerce, and AI infrastructure. Where do you see the biggest AI-led transformation in India over the next five years?

 

India is uniquely positioned to benefit from AI because of its scale, digital infrastructure, and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Over the next five years, we expect to see meaningful AI-led transformation across sectors.

 

AI is already embedded across Amazon’s operations — from more conversational customer interfaces to smarter, more efficient fulfilment and logistics networks.

 

Amazon’s AI-backed capabilities help sellers address a wide range of operational and business challenges, improving customer experience, supporting seller success, and boosting productivity. More than 1.3 million sellers globally use Amazon’s generative AI listing tools, which automatically generate over 70 per cent of required product attributes. Sellers accept these with little to no editing more than 90 per cent of the time.

 

For small and medium-sized businesses managing complex operations, these tools simplify supply-chain management, inventory control, sales forecasting, and brand building.

 

We have also enhanced our seller assistant with agentic AI capabilities, enabling it to predict seller needs, develop strategic solutions, and take action with a seller’s permission.

 

Amazon announced a $35 billion investment in India by 2030 to advance AI innovation. How is that progressing?

 

This investment is anchored around three strategic priorities: AI-led digitisation, export growth, and job creation. We are investing heavily in digital infrastructure, including data centres in Maharashtra and Telangana that are purpose-built for AI, machine learning, and next-generation Cloud applications.

 

Hundreds of thousands of customers in India run their workloads on Amazon Web Services to reduce costs, accelerate innovation, transform businesses, and shorten time to market by building digital solutions across industries. This is not just about supporting our own operations — it is about enabling India’s digital economy and AI ambitions at scale.

 

India is also central to our global exports strategy. We recently crossed $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports from India and, encouraged by this momentum, have raised our target to $80 billion by 2030.

 

At the same time, we remain among the country’s largest job creators, supporting close to 2.8 million direct, indirect, induced, and seasonal jobs in 2024 alone. We aim to support 3.8 million jobs by 2030.

 

Amazon is laying off employees across the globe. How does the company see its hiring strategy evolving with the arrival of AI?

 

AI is not the reason behind the vast majority of these role reductions. These changes are about strengthening our culture and teams by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and cutting bureaucracy to move faster and operate with greater accountability. This helps us deliver better outcomes for customers.

 

Even as we make these changes, we will continue hiring and investing in strategic areas and roles that are critical to our future. We are still in the early stages of building each of our businesses, and there remains considerable opportunity ahead.

 

Amazon is one of the largest employers in India. In 2024 alone, we supported 2.8 million jobs, including roles created by sellers on Amazon.in and through our pan-Indian operations network. Every time we open a new fulfilment centre or delivery station, hundreds — sometimes thousands — of local jobs are created. We believe Amazon will continue to play a major role in job creation across India.

 

Agentic AI in commerce is already making waves. How do you foresee online shopping evolving?

 

Agents are designed to work alongside humans to complete specific tasks. This will likely make shopping more conversational, intuitive, and personalised. Customers will increasingly interact with AI assistants that understand complex preferences, compare products intelligently, and offer tailored recommendations in real time.

 

Software developers already use agents to write code and deploy applications. Soon, sales teams will use them to qualify leads and manage customer relationships. Manufacturers will rely on agents to manage robot fleets and design next-generation products. We believe agentic AI can make commerce more inclusive, efficient, and customer-focused.

 

With the integration of AI assistants like Rufus on the e-commerce platform, what changes have you observed in shopping behaviour?

 

AI-powered tools are reducing friction and supporting better decision-making. They are reshaping the customer experience by making discovery and shopping more intuitive and accessible.

 

Innovations such as Rufus, our AI shopping assistant, offer personalised recommendations, price trends, and simple visual explainers. AI-generated Review Highlights summarise customer feedback and key product attributes, saving time and helping build trust. Lens AI enables visual-first search using images, screenshots, or barcodes, while features like View In Your Room allow customers to visualise furniture and décor in their own spaces.

 

Together, these tools help lower barriers related to language, literacy, and digital familiarity — extending the reach of e-commerce beyond metros to smaller towns.