June 28 (Reuters) - Amazon.com ( AMZN ) hired away

artificial intelligence startup Adept's co-founders and some of

its team in a move that echoes one by rival Microsoft.

Adept said in a blog post Friday that cofounder and CEO

David Luan, as well as several other co-founders and employees

were leaving to join Amazon ( AMZN ).

Adept, which has raised over $410 million and is valued

above $1 billion, named a new CEO and said it would continue to

operate independent of Amazon ( AMZN ).

The move is similar to one by Microsoft, which in March

hired away much of Inflection AI's leadership and employees and

agreed to pay a roughly $650 million fee.

That deal has attracted the attention of the US Federal

Trade Commission.

Amazon ( AMZN ) will pay Adept a licensing fee to use some of its

technology, which helps automate some business functions. An

Amazon ( AMZN ) spokesperson declined to disclose terms of the

non-exclusive deal.

The spokesperson said the Adept employees have already

joined the company and about 20 Adept workers remain at the

startup.

Adept didn't immediately respond to a request for

comment.