Jeff Bezos to co-lead AI startup in first operational role since Amazon, NYT reports

(Reuters) –Jeff Bezos will serve as co-chief executive officer of a new artificial intelligence startup ​that focuses on AI for engineering and manufacturing of computers, ‌automobiles and spacecraft, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The company, ‌called Project Prometheus, has garnered $6.2 billion in funding, partly from the Amazon founder, making it one of the most well-financed early-stage startups in the world, the report said, ⁠citing three people familiar ‌with the company.

This is the first time Bezos has taken a formal operational role in a company ‍since he stepped down as the CEO of Amazon in July 2021. Though he is involved in Blue Origin, his official title at the space ​firm is founder.

With the new startup, Bezos is entering ‌a crowded AI market with several smaller firms attempting to break through with new software and products while in a race with industry mainstays such as the Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Meta and Google.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Bezos and a representative did not immediately ⁠respond to a Reuters request for comment.​

Bezos’ co-chief executive is Vik ​Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who worked closely with Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin at Google’s ‍X, a research ⁠effort often called “The Moonshot Factory,” the report said.

Project Prometheus has already hired nearly 100 employees, including ⁠researchers from top AI firms such as OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta, according ‌to the Times.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in ‌Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)