Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and one of the wealthiest people in the world, is officially back in the founder’s seat. And for the first time since he stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, the billionaire has just announced he will be taking a new leading role at AI startup Project Prometheus.
The company, which has been reported on in all major US newspapers, has made headlines for raising $6.2 billion before even launching publicly.
This makes it one of the most heavily funded early-stage startups ever.
What Is Project Prometheus?
Named after the Greek titan who stole fire for humanity, Project Prometheus is an AI company co-founded and co-led by Jeff Bezos and deep-tech physicist Vik Bajaj.
But Project Prometheus isn’t just looking to build another chatbot or LLM.
Instead, the company aims to completely change the way that AI is applied to physical areas like robotics, spacecrafts, medicine and wider scientific discovery. According to GeekWire, Project Prometheus describes this as building “AI for the physical economy”.
The company has reportedly already hired around 100 employees, including researchers from impressive institutions like OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Meta. Aside from that, not much else is known about the company. To date, it has no website, no address and no product names.
More from Artificial Intelligence
- Agentic AI Explained
- What If The Biggest Barriers To AI Adoption Aren’t Technical, But Human?
- The “Lovable” Of Automation: Turbotic Launches Automation AI
- AI Fears Overtake Economic Worries As Today’s Biggest Business Risk
- Can People Tell AI Music From Human Creations?
- What Is Vibe Hacking?
- How Do Hotels And Resorts Use AI?
- Can AI Feed The Planet? How AI Is Transforming Agritech
Who Is Co-Founder Vik Bajaj?
Unsurprisingly, a lot of media attention has turned to Bezos’s co-founder, Vik Bajaj. And although he is working alongside one of the biggest names in modern tech, Bajaj has an impressive CV of his own.
With a background in physics, chemistry, academia, biotech and AI, as well as stints at companies like Google X, GRAIL and Foresite Labs, Bajaj certainly is no stranger to AI and business. In fact, he co-founded AI medical discovery platform Xaira Therapeutics in 2023 and continues to serve as Director and Interim President according to his Linkedin profile.
With such an impressive background, it’s no surprise then that Bezos chose him as a co-founder.
A New Type Of AI Company
One of the main reasons that Project Prometheus is causing so much intrigue is that it is another example of a company that is setting out to apply AI to the physical world, not just text generation.
This includes applying AI to areas like robotics, drug discovery, chemistry and physics.
One example of a company currently doing this is Periodic Labs, a startup that uses AI to run lab experiments continuously so it can understand the physical world in real-time. This combination of using AI to explore the physical world is exactly what Project Prometheus is setting out to do.
Is Project Prometheus Another Sign Of An AI Bubble?
The launch of the company comes at an interesting time. As billions is pouring into AI, some people, like Michael Burry of the Big Short, has publicly warned of an AI bubble.
Meanwhile, investors seem bullish about AI companies – after all, raising over $6 billion before launch is pretty impressive.
What Next For Project Prometheus?
For the moment, Project Prometheus is still relative invisible. So far there are no indications of which products they are going to create, no confirmed office and no real news. But the combination of Jeff Bezos, his hand-picked talent and strong vote of investor confidence mean many in the AI industry will be watching closely.
So, for now, we wait to hear. But one thing is for sure, when it comes to Bezos’ new venture, he definitely isn’t planning to play small.
