Elon Musk, founder of xAI, has mocked Jeff Bezos as a “copycat” after reports emerged that the Amazon founder is backing a new artificial intelligence startup. According to The New York Times, Bezos is funding the AI startup of which he will be co-chief executive. The company called Project Prometheus has already secured $6.2 billion in investment, including a significant contribution from him. This, per the outlet, makes it one of the most well-financed early-stage start-ups in the world.

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This will also mark Bezos’ return to a formal operational role for the first time after stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021, handing the role over to Andy Jassy. He will serve alongside Vik Bajaj, who is the co-CEO and co-founder of the AI startup – Project Prometheurs.

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Reacting to the news of Jeff Bezos starting a new AI startup, Elon Musk said, “Haha. No way,” with a laughing emoji. In the next line, he added the word “copy” and the emoji of a cat.

About Project Prometheus

Project Prometheus has only a minimal footprint on LinkedIn. Its “About” section simply states that the company is building “AI for the physical economy.” The page lists an estimated workforce of between 51 and 200 employees, and both the profile photo and banner are plain black. Going by Bajaj’s LinkedIn profile, the company started in November 2025 and is currently operating in San Francisco, London and Zurich.

According to the NYT, the company is entering a market where smaller startups are competing to find their place alongside major tech players such as Google, Meta, and Microsoft, as well as established leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic. It is focusing on building an AI model that will help in engineering and manufacturing in several fields, including computers, aerospace and automobiles.

The company, per the NYT report, will focus on applying AI to physical tasks, including robotics, drug design and scientific discovery.