Overview of the Announcements
On April 28, AWS CEO Matt Garman, alongside SVP of Amazon Applied AI Solutions Colleen Aubrey, CMO Julia White, and leaders from OpenAI, took the stage to reveal how customers are transforming business operations using AI agents. The event, dubbed What’s Next with AWS 2026, delivered a packed slate of updates spanning Amazon Quick, Amazon Connect, and a deepened partnership with OpenAI. Here’s a summary of the key takeaways.
Amazon Quick Expands with Desktop App and New Capabilities
Amazon Quick, the AI assistant for work that connects to your apps and takes action on your behalf, received several significant enhancements.
Desktop App (Preview)
Quick now offers a dedicated desktop application in preview, enabling you to stay connected to local files, calendar, and communications without needing a browser. You can sign up in minutes using a personal email or existing credentials from Google, Apple, GitHub, or Amazon—no AWS account is required.
Visual Asset Generation
Users can now generate polished documents, presentations, infographics, and images directly from the chat interface. This feature streamlines content creation within the assistant’s workflow.
Expanded Native Integrations
Quick’s native integrations have grown to include Google Workspace, Zoom, Airtable, Dropbox, and Microsoft Teams, broadening its utility across common business tools.
Build Custom Apps with Quick (Preview)
A new capability lets you create intelligent apps, dashboards, and web pages connected to your business data using natural language. This preview enables non-developers to build custom solutions without coding.
Amazon Connect Evolves into Four Agentic AI Solutions
Amazon Connect is transforming from a single product into a suite of four agentic AI solutions designed to embed intelligence into existing workflows.
Amazon Connect Decisions
This supply chain planning and intelligence solution shifts teams from reactive crisis management to proactive planning. It combines 30 years of Amazon’s operational science with over 25 specialized supply chain tools.
Amazon Connect Talent (Preview)
An agentic AI hiring solution that delivers AI-led interviews, science-backed assessments, and consistent evaluation. It targets talent acquisition leaders managing high-volume hiring.
Amazon Connect Customer
Formerly known as Amazon Connect, this solution provides personalized customer experiences across voice, chat, and digital channels, with new configuration capabilities that enhance flexibility.
Deepened OpenAI Partnership
The event also highlighted a deeper collaboration with OpenAI, though specific details were not fully disclosed in this announcement. The partnership likely fuels the agentic capabilities across Quick and Connect, leveraging OpenAI’s advanced models.
For more on how these updates can transform your workflows, explore the official AWS announcements or try the previews directly.