(Reuters) -Jeff Bezos will serve as co-CEO of a new artificial intelligence startup that focuses on artificial intelligence for the engineering and manufacturing of computers, cars and spacecraft, the New York Times reported on Monday.
The company, called Project Prometheus, has raised $6.2 billion in funding, partly from Amazon’s founder, making it one of the best-funded early-stage startups in the world, according to the report, which cites three people familiar with the company.
This is the first time Bezos has taken on a formal operational role at a company, since he stepped down as CEO of Amazon in July 2021. Although he is involved in Blue Origin, his official title at the space company is founder.
With the new startup, Bezos is entering a crowded AI market with several smaller companies trying to make inroads with new software and products while competing with industry mainstays like 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-CEO is Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who worked closely with Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Google’s X, a research effort often called “The Moonshot Factory,” according to the report.
Project Prometheus has already hired nearly 100 employees, including researchers from leading AI companies like OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta, according to the Times.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)