After leading Amazon for almost three decadesJeff Bezos left four years ago the highest position in the company that he created to focus on other projects. Personally, His wedding to Lauren Sánchez made headlines; professionally, His involvement with Blue Origin has been constantat a time when the space company rivals SpaceX like never before.
At 61 years old and in a comfortable stage of his life, few would have imagined that Bezos would return to the CEO chair of a new company. But in Silicon Valley, where withdrawal is rarely final, nothing can ever be closed. The case of Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, is a good reminder: At the age of 70 he assumed the presidency and executive direction of Relativity Space. And now, according to The New York TimesBezos is back.
Bezos returns to an operational position with a powerful bet
The tycoon, who as of this writing appears as the third richest person on the planetaccording to Forbeshas set his sights on a new project. We talk about Project Prometheusa company that emerges with financing of 6.2 billion dollars, much of it contributed by Bezos himself. And, of course, it is a bet on artificial intelligence.
The company appears at a time when artificial intelligence is experiencing accelerated expansion. It is no secret that the environment is dominated by names like Google, Meta and Microsoft, along with references such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Added to this dynamic is a growing number of startups seeking to differentiate themselves with more specialized proposals. That Bezos adopts an operational role in this context reinforces the relevance of the project and positions it from the beginning within the competition for the most ambitious advances in the sector.
As detailed by the American newspaper, the first steps of Project Prometheus have not been particularly visible and there is still no confirmed date for the start of its operations. However, the type of technology that is being developed is known, focused on applying AI to engineering and manufacturing challenges in areas such as computing, aerospace and automotive. It is an approach that requires teams with high scientific specialization. For now, the location of the company has not been made public either, a fact that remains unclear.
The company is focused on applying AI to engineering and manufacturing challenges in areas such as computing, aerospace and automotive.
The sources consulted point out a relevant detail: Bezos returns to direct management by becoming co-CEO of Project Prometheus, a role that he had not held since leaving Amazon. Share that responsibility with Vik Bajajphysicist and chemist with extensive experience in applied research. We are talking about a profile that worked alongside Sergey Brin at Google X and later participated in the launch of Verily, Alphabet’s laboratory dedicated to life sciences.
Project Prometheus is part of a broader trend within the sector. A growing number of companies are applying artificial intelligence to tasks linked to the physical world, from robotics to drug design or scientific research. This year, several researchers from companies such as Meta, OpenAI or Google DeepMind have abandoned consolidated projects to found new initiatives, such as Periodic Labsfocused on accelerating discoveries in physics and chemistry. It is in that environment where Prometheus begins to place itself.
The interest in applying artificial intelligence to the physical world also responds to an important technical difference. Large language models learn from huge amounts of digital text, from articles to technical documentation. According to The New York Times, the new approach goes one step further: systems that can also learn from real experiments, run by robots in automated laboratories. Initiatives like AlphaFold have already demonstrated advances in areas such as drug design. It’s on that frontier, where software meets physical experimentation, where Prometheus wants to compete.
The implementation of the project is also reflected in your team. Project Prometheus, sources say, has incorporated nearly a hundred employees, including researchers from companies such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Meta. This movement confirms the technical ambition of the company and the intention to advance quickly in a field where talent is decisive. Bezos’ decision to return to an operational role also comes at a particularly competitive time for the industry, adding even more attention to the company’s next steps.
Images | Jeff Bezos | Igor Omilaev
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