Yann LeCun, Meta's former chief AI scientist and Turing Award winner, is seeking €500 million in funding for his newly founded AI company, which would value the startup at approximately €3 billion before its official launch.
According to sources familiar with the matter, LeCun, who is set to leave Meta by year-end, has appointed Alexandre LeBrun, founder of French health-tech startup Nabla, as CEO of the new venture. Named "Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs" (AMI Labs), the company plans to disclose further details in January, with LeCun serving as executive chairman.
This marks another high-profile funding case in the AI sector this year. Earlier in April, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever raised $2 billion for his one-year-old, product-less AI company Safe Superintelligence, valuing it at $32 billion.
**Focusing on Superintelligent AI Systems** AMI Labs will specialize in developing next-generation superintelligent AI systems, with a core focus on creating "world models" capable of simulating and understanding the physical world. Such models hold significant potential in robotics, autonomous driving, and other fields reliant on environmental interaction.
The startup’s technological foundation stems from LeCun’s research direction at Meta, aiming to build a novel AI architecture that learns not only from text but also directly from video and spatial data. The system is designed to possess continuous memory, complex reasoning, and the ability to plan intricate action sequences.
While Meta will not directly invest in the company, the two parties have agreed to establish a "collaborative relationship." This arrangement allows Meta to access and commercialize the technology, extending its influence in AI infrastructure.
**Nabla Co-Founder Takes CEO Role** Delphine Groll, co-founder of Nabla, stated in a release that under a board-approved transition plan, co-founder and CEO Alex LeBrun will step down to assume the CEO position at AMI Labs.
Meanwhile, Nabla has formed a strategic research partnership with AMI Labs. Groll, currently serving as COO, will oversee daily operations while the board searches for a permanent CEO. LeBrun will remain chairman and chief AI scientist at Nabla.
**Meta’s AI Strategy Shift** LeCun’s departure coincides with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s strategic realignment of Meta’s AI efforts to compete directly with OpenAI and Google in developing advanced AI systems.
Zuckerberg has shifted focus away from long-term exploratory work at Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab, founded by LeCun in 2013. In October, Meta cut around 600 employees from its AI research team to reduce costs, streamline processes, and accelerate product development.
LeCun’s exit follows a series of high-level changes at Meta. In May, AI research VP Joelle Pineau left to join Canadian AI startup Cohere.
Comments