Jeff Bezos Quietly Launches $6.2B AI Startup “Project Prometheus” — Co-Leads Push Into World-Model AI
- Olga Nesterova
- 2 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Four years after stepping down as CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos is back in the founder’s seat—this time in the AI race. The New York Times reported yesterday that Bezos is the co-founder and co-CEO of Project Prometheus, a heavily funded $6.2 billion artificial intelligence startup that he is partially bankrolling.
Bezos is sharing the helm with Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist known for his work at Google’s “Moonshot Factory,” where he helped lead ambitious, experimental projects aimed at breakthrough technologies.
While the company has kept most details under tight wraps, NYT reporting suggests Prometheus is positioning itself to compete in one of the most consequential frontiers of AI.
A New Frontier: Building “World Models” Instead of Chatbots
Unlike the large language models (LLMs) that power current AI chatbots—systems that learn from text and mimic human speech—Project Prometheus is pursuing far more complex capabilities.
According to the report, the startup is targeting the development of world models:
World models learn physical dimensions by absorbing spatial inputs or analyzing video, not just reading text.
They allow AI systems to understand, simulate, and reason about the real world, not only language.
They can drive advancements in robotics, video games, engineering, computer science, and aerospace.
This direction immediately signals why Bezos is involved.
As founder of Blue Origin, Bezos has spent years pushing into aerospace engineering and manufacturing. World-model AI could accelerate everything from robotic assembly to space vehicle design.
A Secretive Startup With Massive Funding
Even with $6.2 billion behind it and roughly 100 employees, Project Prometheus maintains an unusually low profile.
The New York Times could not confirm:
When the company was founded
Where its headquarters are
The scope of its internal research
How quickly it aims to bring products to market
Prometheus does in fact have a LinkedIn page.
The secrecy has only heightened speculation, especially because world-model AI is widely considered the next strategic battleground for companies seeking to move beyond text-based AI.
Why It Matters
If Prometheus is successful, Bezos may again shape the next major technological paradigm—this time not in e-commerce or cloud computing, but in AI systems capable of understanding and simulating the physical world.
World-model AI has the potential to:
Transform robotics and autonomous systems
Accelerate space exploration and aerospace engineering
Redefine industrial automation
Push AI beyond conversation and into real-world interaction
And with one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential tech figures now quietly backing the movement, the race to build the next generation of AI models just became more competitive.
