\n<\/p>\n
Prometheus, the bodily AI startup co-founded by Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj, the previous co-founder of Verily, Google\u2019s life sciences unit, introduced it raised $12 billion at a $41 billion valuation.<\/p>\n
The brand new funds got here from Bezos himself, in addition to from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock, amongst others.<\/p>\n
That is the second fundraise spherical for Prometheus, which launched late final yr with an preliminary increase of $6.2 billion, in line with CNBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prometheus is constructing what it calls an \u201csynthetic basic engineer\u201d \u2014 software program able to automating the design and manufacturing of complicated bodily techniques, from jet engines to drug compounds.<\/p>\n The ambition is sweeping: change massive swaths of engineering work with AI. Though the startup will automate many points of an engineer\u2019s job, Bezos instructed CNBC that the productiveness good points AI delivers will result in what he calls \u201clabor shortage\u201d \u2014 his time period for a world the place demand for human employees outpaces provide.<\/p>\n That places him at odds with quite a lot of distinguished voices in tech. Whereas some AI leaders predict widespread job losses, Bezos sees it in a different way.<\/p>\n \u201cImportant productiveness within the economic system goes to lift the usual of residing,\u201d he stated. \u201cIndividuals who at this time have two-earner households, they\u2019ll change into one-earner households. Perhaps some people who find themselves working extra time will cease working extra time.\u201d<\/p>\n The corporate, which at the moment has 150 workers throughout workplaces in San Francisco, London, and Zurich, is retaining the specifics of what it has already constructed below wraps.<\/p>\n Bezos indicated that a big portion of the capital will go towards the corporate\u2019s massive compute wants.<\/p>\n Bezos is aware of one thing about labor at scale. Amazon \u2014 the place he serves as govt chairman and is the biggest particular person shareholder \u2014 employs greater than 1.5 million individuals worldwide and over the previous yr, below CEO Andy Jassy, has laid off tens of 1000’s<\/a> of individuals as the corporate has accelerated its personal automation push.<\/p>\n At $41 billion, Prometheus is among the most richly valued AI startups ever funded, and one of many largest single bets on the bodily AI sector. However it isn\u2019t the one firm attracting huge investor curiosity. In latest months, enterprise capitalists have more and more poured capital into bodily AI<\/a>, a booming sector that traders and founders argue is inherently extra defensible than pure software program \u2014 as a result of the bodily world creates moats that code alone can not.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n