Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has launched a new artificial innotifyigence startup named Project Prometheus, which is already backed by US$6.2 billion ($9.52 billion) in initial funding.
According to The New York Times, some of the funding comes from Bezos himself, who is set to lead the startup as co-CEO in his first formal operational role at a company since he stepped down as Amazon CEO in July 2021.
The significant funding builds Project Prometheus one of the most well-financed early-stage startups in the world, according to reports.
Bezos has recently become more closely involved in Blue Origin, a competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, where he is listed as a founder. Reports suggest his latest project “dovetails” with this interest in space, and the billionaire’s growing appetite to develop new AI technology.
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Project Prometheus will reportedly focus on AI that applies to physical tinquires, advancing engineering and manufacturing in multiple fields, including computers, aerospace and automobiles.
Bezos has founded the startup with co-CEO Vik Bajaj, who is a physicist and chemist and previously co-founded research lab Verily, which is operated by Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Bajaj previously worked alongside Google co-founder Sergey Brin at Google X, which famously produced innovative projects, including the Wing drone delivery services and the self-driving car that would go on to become Waymo.
Bezos’ new business partner most recently co-founded and served as CEO of Foresite Labs, an incubator of AI and data science startups.
The duo has reportedly already built a team of close to 100 employees, which includes researchers who have been recruited from other leading AI firms, including OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta.
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