An AI start-up linked to work on generative AI (GenAI) by AWS faced troubled times, with reports it was cutting staff a matter of weeks after its CEO departed.

Stability AI revealed it would cull around 10 per cent of its 200-strong workforce in a move passed off as a customary readjustment, a memo to employees obtained by CNBC showed.

The company was among a number aligned with an AWS move to broaden the reach of GenAI by enabling third-party language models to work with its Bedrock platform.

Stability AI describes itself as a provider of resource-light open-access models for “imaging, language, code and audio”. It produced Stable Diffusion, a so-called text-to-image software model launched in 2022.

In the staff memo, interim CEOs Shan Shan Wong and Christian Laforte highlighted ongoing work to cut costs, and bolster investment and partnerships. After reviewing its global team “we have determined the need to restructure parts of the business” to “right size” the company “and focus on our operations”.

The executives believe the move will put the company on a “more sustainable path”.

CNBC reported founder and former CEO Emad Mostaque quit Stability AI last month after a series of controversies which included overplaying its relationship with AWS.