Jeff Bezos launches new AI startup

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has launched a new artificial intelligence startup called Project Prometheus, according to The New York Times.

Bezos will serve as co-director of the company. He founded the venture together with Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who previously worked with Sergey Brin at Google X.

Sources say the project is partly funded by Bezos himself, with total investment reaching $6.2 billion. The company already employs around 100 specialists, including former staff from OpenAI and DeepMind.

Project Prometheus aims to apply AI to research, development and manufacturing across aerospace, automotive and computing industries. The company has not disclosed where it will be based or when it plans to formally launch.

The NYT notes that this is Bezos’s first major executive role since stepping down as Amazon CEO in 2021. In recent years, he has focused more on his aerospace company Blue Origin while showing growing interest in artificial intelligence.