Jeff Bezos Returns to C-Suite Role for $6.2B AI Startup Project Prometheus (www.ndtvprofit.com)

Jeff Bezos is returning to an operational C‑suite role as co‑CEO of Project Prometheus, a new AI startup that launched with an unprecedented $6.2 billion in initial funding. Bezos will share leadership with Vik Bajaj, a physicist/chemist who previously worked with Sergey Brin at X’s Moonshot Factory. The company has recruited nearly 100 researchers and engineers from top AI labs including OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta, and is targeting AI applications for complex physical systems—computing hardware, next‑generation automobiles, and advanced spacecraft and aerospace manufacturing—rather than consumer-facing generative models. The move is significant because it represents a major, well‑funded bet on shifting AI from software and content generation into real‑world engineering and production. Technically, this entails marrying large‑scale ML research with physics‑aware simulation, multi‑disciplinary systems engineering, and “sim‑to‑real” transfer to close the gap between digital optimization and physical manufacturing. If successful, Prometheus could accelerate hardware design loops, optimise supply chains and automate complex assembly processes; but it also faces hard challenges around accurate physics models, scarce labeled real‑world data, safety/regulation, and integration with industrial tooling. The scale of funding and top talent signals a potential new phase in the AI race—one focused on transforming the physical world as much as software.