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

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s wealthiest people, is throwing his money and time into an artificial intelligence startup that he will help manage as its co-chief executive.

- CADE METZ

The company, called Project Prometheus, is coming out of the gates with $6.2 billion in funding, partly from Bezos, making it one of the most well-financed early-stage startups in the world, said three people familiar with the company who spoke on condition of anonymity because details have not yet been made public.

This is the first time Bezos has taken a formal operational role in a company since he stepped down as chief executive 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.

Since leaving Amazon, Bezos has received as much attention for his personal life as his businesses, including an extravagant celebrity-filled wedding in Venice earlier this year. He has also become more closely involved in Blue Origin and has shown increasing interest in the race to build artificial intelligence.

His new company now firmly plants him in the middle of that competition. Project Prometheus is entering an increasingly crowded AI market, with smaller companies trying to carve out niches in a race with industry giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft and pioneering companies like OpenAl and Anthropic.