Who is behind AMI Labs, Yann LeCun’s ‘world model’ startup

Yann LeCun’s new venture, AMI Labs, has been attracting attention since the AI ​​scientist left Meta to found it. This week, the startup finally confirmed what it’s building — and some key details have been kept in plain sight.

In its newly launched websiteThe startup announced plans to expand ‘world model’ to “build intelligent systems that understand the real world.” Focus on the world model has been given the name AMI, which stands for Advanced Machine Intelligence, but now it has officially joined the ranks of the hottest AI research startups.

Building fundamental models that link AI and the real world has become one of the most exciting endeavors in the field, attracting top scientists and deep-pocketed investors — product or no product.

World Labs, a direct competitor founded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, became a unicorn soon after out of stealth. Next launched its first productMarble, which produces 3D worlds that sound physically, World Labs today he said in the discussion to raise new funding worth $5 billion.

There is no doubt that VCs are also eager to invest in LeCun, adding credence to rumors that AMI Labs may be raising funds. at a cost of $3.5 billion. According to Bloomberg, VCs in talks with the startup include Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, and Hiro Capital, which is LeCun is an advisor. Other potential investors reportedly include 20VC, Bpifrance, Daphni, and HV Capital.

Regardless of who writes the check, investors may want to Note important details: as LeCun has made clearhe is the executive chairman of AMI, not the CEO. Instead, the role goes to Alex LeBrun, who was previously cofounder and CEO at Nabla, a healthcare AI startup with offices in Paris and New York.

LeBrun’s transition from Nabla to AMI is part of a partnership declare Last December by Nabla, which developed AI assistants for clinical care and LeCun has been an advisor. In exchange for “privileged access” to the AMI world model, the Nabla board supported LeBrun’s shift from CEO to Chief AI Scientist and chairman, clearing the way for the new role.

As CEO of AMI Labs, LeBrun will be surrounded by familiar faces. After Facebook get the previous startWit.ai, a serial entrepreneur and AI engineer works under LeCun’s leadership at Meta’s AI research lab, FAIR. according to reportthe duo will also be joined by Laurent Solly, who down as Meta’s vice president for Europe last December.

The talent overlap between AMI and Meta is endless. LeCun to the MIT Technology Review that his former employer could become AMI’s first client. But he has also publicly criticized some of Meta’s strategic choices made under the direction of Mark Zuckerberg. More broadly, the Review describes AMI Labs as a contrarian bet against the large language model (LLM).

The limitations of LLM that LeCun pointed out include hallucinations, which is a serious problem in a context like medicine, as LeBrun also knows. CEO of AMI Labs to Forbes the big reason he took the role is the prospect of applying the world model for health. But the startup will also target other high applied fields.

“AMI Labs will continue AI research and develop applications where reliability, control, and safety are essential, especially for industrial process control, automation, wearable devices, robotics, healthcare, and more,” the mission statement reads. “We share one belief: true intelligence doesn’t start in language. It starts in the world.”

Unlike the generative approach, which LeCun and his team see as less suitable for unpredictable data such as sensor input, the startup promises that AI systems not only understand the real world, but also have persistent memory, the ability to reason and plan, and can be controlled and safe.

The startup plans to license its technology to industry partners for real-world applications, but says it will also contribute to building the future of AI “with the global academic research community through open publication and open source.” LeCun said he will remain a professor at NYU, where he teaches one class a year and supervises PhD and postdoctoral students.

This means the French-born researcher will remain based in New York, but he told MIT Technology Review that AMI Labs “will be a global company (with) headquarters in Paris.” The news was welcomed by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, who said his pride that LeCun, who is also a Turing Prize winner, chose Paris. “We will do everything we can to ensure success from France,” he said.

The startup will also have offices in Montreal, New York and Singapore, but its decision to choose Paris as its headquarters will help consolidate Paris’s reputation as an AI hub, where it will join ranks H, Mistral AI and several international laboratories, including FAIR. Of course, AMI is pronounced a-mee — like “ami” in French, which means “friend,” LeCun said.