Jeff Bezos is betting that the next technological revolution will happen not through chatbots but through smarter engineering.

The Amazon founder has launched Prometheus, a San Francisco-based startup valued at $29 billion and backed by more than $12 billion in funding, with the goal of building what he calls an “artificial general engineer” — a new generation of software designed to accelerate the invention and manufacturing of physical products.

Rather than focusing on conversational assistants, Prometheus aims to develop tools that help engineers design everything from computers and automobiles to spacecraft and jet engines by combining machine learning with real-world scientific and engineering data.

“All societal wealth is driven by invention,” Bezos said. “What Prometheus seeks to do is offer a set of tools that dramatically accelerates that invention loop.”

Led by co-chief executive Vik Bajaj, a former Google X and Verily executive, the company believes its technology could significantly shorten product development cycles that currently take years or even decades.