- By Supratik Das
- Tue, 18 Nov 2025 04:40 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Elon Musk has reignited his long-running rivalry with Jeff Bezos, accusing the Amazon founder of being a “copycat” moments after the announcement of Project Prometheus, a new USD 6.2 billion artificial intelligence venture that marks Bezos’ return to a hands-on leadership role.
Musk reacted sharply on X (formerly Twitter), posting “Haha no way” and later adding another jab, “copycat.” The Tesla and xAI chief has used the same taunt multiple times in the past whenever Bezos has stepped into one of his competitive domains, from satellite internet to autonomous vehicles.
Bezos’ New AI Platform
Project Prometheus, first reported by The New York Times, is Bezos’s most significant operational role since stepping down as Amazon CEO in July 2021. The company has already raised USD 6.2 billion in early funding, with a substantial portion coming from Bezos himself. The platform aims to develop specialised AI tools for engineering and manufacturing across computers, aerospace, automotive systems, and industrial design.
The project will be co-led by Vik Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who previously worked at Google X alongside co-founder Sergey Brin. Bajaj also played a key role at Verily and Foresite Labs before joining the new initiative. Prometheus has already assembled nearly 100 employees, including high-value researchers recruited from OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Meta.
Sparks Bezos Vs Musk Feud
The rivalry between Musk and Bezos has stretched across several industries over the years. Musk first publicly mocked Bezos in 2019 after Amazon announced a plan for a satellite-internet constellation that would directly compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. He repeated the same criticism in 2020 when Amazon acquired Zoox, the self-driving car startup seen as a challenger to Tesla’s autonomy ambitions.
With the launch of Project Prometheus, their rivalry has entered the booming AI sector. Musk’s own company, xAI, is scaling rapidly through partnerships with Nvidia, Microsoft, and BlackRock as it expands major AI data-centre operations in Texas. The firm’s Grok model, positioned as a competitor to OpenAI’s GPT platform, is central to Musk’s belief that AI development must be both open and “truth-seeking.”
Bezos’ long-standing interest in advanced technology and space exploration also underpins his new venture. Project Prometheus aligns closely with the broader engineering focus of Blue Origin, which recently achieved a milestone booster landing.
While both billionaires are pursuing vastly different visions of the future, from interplanetary travel to global broadband and superintelligent systems, their latest clash signals that the battle for AI dominance will be just as intense as their rivalries in space and electric mobility.
