With a new company, Jeff Bezos will become a CEO again

Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width Standard Wide Links Standard Orange Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Jeff Bezos is one of the worlds richest and most famous tech CEOs, but he hasnt actually been a CEO of anything since 2021. Thats now changing as he takes on the role of co-CEO of a new AI company, according to a New York Times report citing three people familiar with the company. Grandiosely named Project Prometheus (and not to be confused with the NASA project of the same name), the company will focus on using AI to pursue breakthroughs in research, engineering, manufacturing, and other fields that are dubbed part of the physical economyin contrast to the software applications that are likely the first thing most people in the general public think of when they hear AI. Bezos co-CEO will be Dr. Vik Bajaj, a chemist and physicist who previously led life sciences work at Google X, an Alphabet-backed research group that worked on speculative projects that could lead to more product categories. (For example, it developed technologies that would later underpin Googles Waymo service.) Bajaj also worked at Verily, another Alphabet-backed research group focused on life sciences, and Foresite Labs, an incubator for new AI companies. This is speculation, but Bajaj resumes suggests he may lead the RD efforts at Project Prometheus while Bezos focuses on the logistics and the business side. Project Prometheus already has nearly 100 employees, having poached researchers from the AI divisions at big tech firms like OpenAI and Meta.