Amazon cancels re:Mars 2020 AI summit due to coronavirus outbreak

Amazon has cancelled its annual re:Mars AI summit. The company said it will explore other ways to engage the community.

Amazon’s re:Mars 2020 AI summit cancelled (REUTERS)

Another big technology conference has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Amazon on Saturday said it has cancelled re:Mars 2020, its annual conference that focuses on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and other futuristic technologies. The event was originally planned to be held between June 16 and June 19 in Las Vegas, US.

"Thank you for your interest in re:MARS 2020. Our top priority is the well-being of our employees, customers, partners, and event attendees. We have been closely monitoring the situation with COVID-19, and after much consideration, we have made the decision to cancel re:MARS 2020. All guests who have purchased tickets will receive a full refund of registration fees. Hotel rooms booked through our conference website will be canceled free of charge. Over the course of the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to engage the community," said Amazon on its re:Mars website.

The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has forced many events to be cancelled or held online-only. Amazon earlier this month had cancelled its Mumbai summit over the COVID-10 outbreak.

Amazon's announcement comes shortly after Apple said it will hold annual developer conference WWDC online. The conference takes place in June every year. "The current health situation has required that we create a new WWDC 2020 format that delivers a full program with an online keynote and sessions, offering a great learning experience for our entire developer community, all around the world. We will be sharing all of the details in the weeks ahead," Apple said.

Google also cancelled its physical event for the I/O 2020 developer conference scheduled to take place between May 12 and May 14.

Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in accordance with health guidance from the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the physical Google I/O event at Shoreline Amphitheatre," Google wrote on its I/O 2020 website.

Apart from cancelling or going online for their big annual conferences, the tech firms are also taking initiatives such as encouraging employees to work from home and asking them to avoid non-essential travels.