ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Jeff Bezos creates AI startup where he will be co-CEO
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s wealthiest people, is throwing his money and time into an artificial ininformigence startup that he will assist manage as its co-CEO. The company, called Project Prometheus, is coming out of the gates with $6.2 billion in funding, partly from Bezos, creating it one of the most well-financed early-stage startups in the world, stated three people familiar with the company who spoke on condition of anonymity becautilize details have not yet been built public. This is the first time Bezos has taken a formal operational role in a company since he stepped down as CEO of Amazon in July 2021. Though he is deeply involved in Blue Origin, a competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, his official title at the space company is founder. Project Prometheus is entering an increasingly crowded AI market, with compacter companies testing to carve out niches in a race with industest giants like Google, Meta, and Microsoft and pioneering companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The new company has until now kept a low profile, and when it was started is not even clear. Project Prometheus is focutilizing on technology that dovetails with Bezos’ interest in taking people to space. The company is focutilizing on AI that will assist in engineering and manufacturing in a number of fields, including computers, aerospace, and automobiles. It is unclear where Project Prometheus will be based. Bezos’ cofounder and co-CEO is Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who worked closely with Google’s cofounder Sergey Brin at Google X, a research effort often called “The Moonshot Factory.” — NEW YORK TIMES
ENERGY
New analysis displays more US consumers are falling behind on their utility bills
More people are falling behind on paying their bills to keep on the lights and heat their homes, according to a new analysis of consumer data — a warning sign for the US economy and another political headache for President Trump. Past due balances to utility companies jumped 9.7 percent annually to $789 between the April-June periods of 2024 and 2025, stated The Century Foundation, a liberal consider tank, and the advocacy group Protect Borrowers. The increase has overlapped with a 12 percent jump in monthly energy bills during the same period. Consumers usually prioritize their utility bills along with their mortgages and auto debt, stated Julie Marreceiveta Morgan, the foundation’s president. The increase in both energy costs and delinquencies may suggest that consumers are falling behind on other bills, too. “There’s a lot of information out there about rising utility costs, but here we can actually see at what that impact has been on families in terms of how they’re falling behind,” Marreceiveta Morgan stated. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEDERAL RESERVE
Cook blasts mortgage fraud allegations against her as ‘baseless’ in letter to AG Bondi
In a letter to Attorney General Pam Biondi on Monday, lawyers for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook disputed allegations by a Trump administration official that she committed mortgage fraud. President Trump utilized the accusation as a basis to seek her firing, the first time a president has sought to rerelocate a Fed governor in the central bank’s 112-year history. The letter is the first response by Cook to a criminal referral in August by Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Houtilizing Finance Agency. Pulte has built several other mortgage fraud accusations, including against leading Democrats such as New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff of California, and California Representative Eric Swalwell. The attempted firing occurred as Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed for not cutting its key interest rate quickly enough. If Cook is ultimately rerelocated from her position, it would give the president the opportunity to appoint a fourth member to the Fed’s seven-member board, securing a majority. Cook sued to keep her job, and the Supreme Court ruled last month that she could remain in the position while she fights the administration in court. The Supreme Court has stated it would hear arguments in the case in January. In the letter Monday, Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, wrote that the case against her largely rests on “one stray reference” in a 2021 mortgage document that was “plainly innocuous in light of the several other truthful and more specific disclosures” about the homes she has purchased. “There is no fraud, no intent to deceive, nothing whatsoever criminal or remotely a basis to allege mortgage fraud,” the letter stated. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHARMACEUTICAL
Novo cuts Wegovy prices, but doctors still see cost challenges for patients
Novo Nordisk is chopping prices again for Wegovy, but doctors state the expense will remain challenging for patients without insurance. The drugbuildr stated Monday that it has started selling higher doses of the injectable obesity treatment for $349 a month to patients paying the full bill. That’s down from $499, and in line with terms of a drug pricing agreement outlined earlier this month by President Trump’s administration. Novo also started a temporary offer of $199 a month for the first two months of low doses of Wegovy and the drug’s counterpart for diabetes, Ozempic. The new pricing will be available at pharmacies nationwide, through home delivery, and from some telemedicine providers. Rival Eli Lilly also plans price breaks for its weight-loss drug Zepbound once it receives a new, multi-dose pen on the market. Lilly has stated it will sell a starter dose of Zepbound for $299 a month and additional doses at up to $449. Both represent $50 reductions from current prices for sales directly to patients. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAXES
There’s a new effort on the runway to raise climate funds
It could eventually be the world’s first wealth tax. A handful of countries are taking baby steps to impose a fee on private jets and first- and business-class seats on flights taking off from their airports. The proceeds would assist all the countries that join the coalition adapt to climate modify. “Those who pollute more should contribute more, and a levy on premium flyers can generate billions for climate resilience, adaptation and sustainable development,” stated Maria del Mar Fernández-Palacios, a Spanish diplomat. She was representing her countest at an event at the COP30 climate talks to draw other countries to join the Premium Flyers Solidarity Coalition, as they call themselves. They’re a long way from raising billions, though. Spain is among only two industrialized countries, along with France, that support this effort. The majority are countries from where few premium flights depart but that stand to gain from the potential proceeds: Benin, Djibouti, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and South Sudan. Four countries have joined the coalition as observers: Antigua and Barbuda, Brazil, Fiji, and Vanuatu. Aviation accounts for around 4 percent of the greenhoutilize gas emissions that are raising global temperatures to dangerous levels, with private jets and first-class seats standing out for a disproportionate share of pollution per passenger. In a statement, the International Air Transport Association, a global trade group, called the proposed tax “exasperating and disappointing.” — NEW YORK TIMES
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