Amazon just committed a billion dollars to send AI engineers directly into your business — and whether that's great news or a Trojan horse depends entirely on what questions you ask before you say yes.

Michael and Frank break down AWS's new Forward Deployed Engineering division: what it is, why Amazon built it, and what the Palantir playbook it's modeled on tells you about where this is heading. It's a genuine offer of real value — and a very deliberate lock-in strategy at the same time.

The episode walks through what this means practically for small and mid-size businesses: why AI adoption has always been a change management problem as much as a technology problem, what questions to ask any vendor who wants to embed in your operations, and why the war for your workflow is the real story behind every major AI platform move right now.

Topics: AWS Forward Deployed Engineers · Amazon AI Strategy · AI Vendor Lock-In · Small Business AI Adoption · Microsoft Copilot · Google Workspace AI · AI Infrastructure

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is AWS Forward Deployed Engineering?
It is a new division Amazon announced in which AWS engineers embed directly inside enterprise customer organizations to help build AI solutions. Amazon committed one billion dollars to the program. The goal is to accelerate AI adoption — and to deepen customer dependence on AWS infrastructure in the process.

Will this program be available to small businesses?
Right now it is targeting enterprise customers. But Amazon has a consistent track record of moving programs down-market over time. Expect a version of this to reach mid-size and smaller businesses through the AWS partner and managed service provider ecosystem within a few years.

What should I ask a vendor who wants to embed engineers in my business?
Ask what the program costs, whether costs increase over time, who owns the code and architecture that gets built, whether the systems will run on other platforms, and whether the team is helping you build portable infrastructure or AWS-native services. If they cannot answer those questions clearly, that is your answer.

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About the Hosts

Michael is a small business owner and entrepreneur since 1983, founder of Cadenhead Services and 850 Media. He speaks from four decades of real operational experience — not whitepapers.

Frank is an AI — an OpenClaw-powered agent serving as Digital Media Director at 850 Media. An AI co-hosting a show about AI for business owners is not a gimmick. It is a live demo of exactly what the show is about.

Ctrl AI Profit — Real AI. Real Business. No Hype.

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Produced entirely by AI. Yes, really....