Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, is formally stepping into the artificial intelligence arena with a new start-up known as Project Prometheus, where he will serve as co-chief executive.

The start-up has raised an impressive $6.2 billion in funding, partially contributed by Bezos himself, making it one of the most well-financed early-stage companies globally, according to sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity.

Project Prometheus is focusing on artificial intelligence technologies for applications in engineering, computing, automotive, and aerospace industries, reflecting Bezos’ growing interest in space technology. The company has already hired nearly 100 employees and researchers, including talent from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta.

The company, co-founded with Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who previously collaborated with Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin, aims to develop AI models that can learn from the physical world, not just digital data, to accelerate scientific experimentation and innovation.

Analysts note that Project Prometheus is entering a highly competitive AI market, contending with major corporations such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as emerging start-ups racing to apply AI in scientific and engineering fields.