Amazon is scaling back development of several Nova artificial intelligence models as it concentrates resources on a new frontier-model effort, Business Insider reported on July 28. The affected portfolio reportedly includes Nova Premier, Nova 2 Omni, Nova Canvas, and Nova Reel.
The shift carries firm deadlines for some Amazon Bedrock customers. AWS has classified Premier, Canvas, and Reel as Legacy models with end-of-life dates in September 2026. Amazon has not announced a service cutoff for Omni, which remains separate from the formal retirement schedule.
Premier, Canvas, and Reel face September deadlines
AWS’s Bedrock lifecycle schedule lists Nova Premier for end of life on September 14, 2026. Nova Canvas and two versions of Nova Reel are scheduled to reach end of life on September 30.
Legacy models remain temporarily available to active customers, but AWS limits their use. New customers cannot access them, existing customers may lose access after 15 days of inactivity, and users cannot create new Provisioned Throughput. AWS will not migrate applications automatically.
The official notices are separate from Amazon’s internal development decisions. Business Insider reported that employees described Premier, Nova 2 Omni, Canvas, and Reel as operating in “keep the lights on,” or KTLO, mode. That designation indicates continued maintenance with reduced development investment.
Nova 2 Omni is in a different position. AWS introduced the model in preview in December 2025, initially giving access to Nova Forge customers. Amazon has not published an EOL date for Omni, so its reported KTLO status does not amount to a confirmed shutdown.
The portfolio reportedly continuing in development includes Nova 2 Lite, Nova 2 Sonic, Nova Forge, and Nova Act. They are not direct replacements for every affected workload: Forge supports customized model development, while Act focuses on browser and user-interface automation.
Amazon narrows its frontier-model bet
The reorganization centers on Amazon’s Frontier Model Research team. Amazon named Pieter Abbeel to lead the group in December 2025, when foundation-model development, custom silicon, and quantum computing moved under senior vice president Peter DeSantis.
The consolidation follows job cuts across Amazon’s AGI organization, including roles tied to model customization, post-training, and data services. Amazon said it was focusing resources on projects with the greatest customer impact.
Business Insider reported that Amazon is targeting AWS re:Invent 2026 for the frontier model’s debut and may retain the Nova name. Amazon has not confirmed that window or disclosed architecture, performance, pricing, or availability details. The project is advancing alongside efforts to expand Amazon’s custom AI chip business beyond workloads running on AWS.
Bedrock’s third-party catalog provides alternatives, but changing models still requires technical review. Amazon is also investing $1 billion in a forward-deployed enterprise AI unit designed to help customers move AI systems into production.
Architects should inventory the model IDs used in production and testing, then compare replacements for output quality, latency, context limits, modalities, regional availability, security controls, and cost. Customers using Premier, Canvas, or Reel should finish testing before the September deadlines rather than plan around an unconfirmed frontier-model release.
Read more: Amazon’s move follows a wider push for greater control over AI infrastructure as Microsoft replaces outside AI models with its own technology to reduce costs and reliance on partners.