Bezos will return to a management position for the first time since leaving Amazon. What will he do?

Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos will be one of two CEOs of a new artificial intelligence startup that will focus on applying AI to engineering and manufacturing computers, cars and spacecraft, The New York Times reported.

A company called Project Prometheus has raised $6.2 billion in funding - in part from Bezos himself, three sources told the NYT. That makes it one of the most well-capitalized early-stage startups in the world, the publication said. According to the NYT, the second co-CEO will be Vic Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who worked closely with Google co-founder Sergey Brin in the company's Google X research division.

Project Prometheus has already hired nearly 100 employees, including researchers from leading AI companies such as OpenAI, DeepMind (a division of Google) and Meta, sources told The New York Times.

Bezos has returned to a formal operational role in the business for the first time since stepping down as Amazon's CEO in July 2021, the NYT notes. Although the billionaire is involved in the private space company Blue Origin, his formal status there is limited to the role of founder

With the launch of the new startup, Bezos is entering an oversaturated AI market, where many smaller companies are trying to make a name for themselves with new products and developments while competing with major industry players including OpenAI, Meta and Google, Reuters notes.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor