Bezos funds Flourish's hunt for brain's core AI algorithm
A neuro AI startup aims to build a synthetic brain using 50 watts.
Flourish is a neuro AI company founded by Rob Williams (former Amazon S-team leader behind Alexa) and Thomas Reardon (neuroscientist and repeat founder). They pitched Jeff Bezos with a bold vision: solve AI's two biggest problems – power efficiency and continuous learning. The result? A $500M war chest (led by Bezos, Lux Capital, Google Ventures) at a $2.5B valuation. Their project, Cortex AI, aims to build a synthetic intelligence system that matches the computational capacity and learning efficiency of the human brain while running on 50 watts or less – a fraction of the 700+ watts used by a single AI training chip.
Reardon argues current LLMs are unsustainable: they devour entire internet data and still don't truly learn after training. Flourish plans to combine neuroscience (wet lab experiments on brain architecture) with AI research to reverse-engineer the brain's core algorithm. Near-term products will emerge from this work. Bezos, after reading a two-page press release, initially committed $50M and later doubled his stake, saying he'd have given more. The company now faces the monumental challenge of delivering on that promise.
- Flourish raised $500M at $2.5B valuation with Bezos, Lux Capital, and Google Ventures backing
- Goal: build Cortex AI – a synthetic brain using ≤50 watts, matching human brain's 20-watt efficiency
- Founders: Rob Williams (ex-Amazon Alexa exec) and Thomas Reardon (neuroscientist, former Microsoft and Meta)
- Current LLMs use 700+ watts per chip and require massive data; Flourish aims for continuous learning at low power
Why It Matters
Could redefine AI's energy and data needs, making it as efficient and adaptive as the human brain.