STAT+: Secretive Project Prometheus takes VC Bob Nelsen beyond just health care

SAN FRANCISCO — Venture capitalist Bob Nelsen believes his latest project will be “one of the most important companies in the world.” But, unusually for the longtime biotech investor, it’s not strictly in health care.

Nelsen has been quietly working on a new artificial intelligence company called Project Prometheus alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj, the former head of Foresite Capital’s AI and science group, Foresite Labs. Bezos and Bajaj are serving as co-CEOs of Project Prometheus, according to The New York Times. Lauded scientist Rick Klausner is also part of the venture. 

Few details of the venture have been revealed publicly, and its exact plans remain murky. According to Nelsen, Project Prometheus is melding AI with physics. “It’s the challenge of figuring out how to reinvent the physical world. It’s a big challenge,” he said during a live taping of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s weekly biotech podcast. 

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