Jeff Bezos returns as co-lead of AI Startup in first operational role since Amazon

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, appears to be gearing up once again, as the billionaire is partly backing a new AI startup called Project Prometheus that has raised $6.2 billion in funding. He will take on duties as co-chief executive of the new startup, The New York Times reported, citing several sources acquainted with the project.

Bezos will share the position with Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who previously co-founded and led Google’s life sciences division. Bajaj also co-founded Verily, a biotech startup owned by Alphabet, and Foresite Labs, an AI-oriented branch of investment firm Foresite Capital.

The NYT report mentions he recently left Foresite to establish Prometheus. This marks Jeff Bezos’ return to operational roles for the first time since leaving Amazon in 2021.

According to The NYT, the startup aims to develop AI tools for engineering and manufacturing across sectors like computers, aerospace, and automobiles.

Named Project Prometheus, it focuses on “AI for the physical economy,” and its work is similar to Periodic Labs, which creates technology to accelerate scientific research by modeling the physical world to train AI models.

The company already has around 100 workers, including researchers from AI companies like Meta, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind, according to the report.