Yann LeCun\u2019s new venture, AMI Labs, has drawn intense attention since the AI scientist left Meta to found it. This week, the startup finally confirmed what it\u2019s building \u2014 and several key details have been hiding in plain sight.<\/p>\n
On its newly launched website<\/a>, the startup disclosed its plans to develop \u201cworld models\u201d<\/a> in order to \u201cbuild intelligent systems that understand the real world.\u201d The focus on world models was already hinted at by AMI\u2019s name, which stands for Advanced Machine Intelligence, but it has now officially joined the ranks of the hottest AI research startups.<\/p>\n Building foundational models that bridge AI and the real world has become one of the field\u2019s most exciting pursuits, attracting top scientists and deep-pocketed investors alike \u2014 product or no product.<\/p>\n World Labs, a direct rival founded by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, became a unicorn shortly after coming out of stealth<\/a>. After launching its first product<\/a>, Marble, which generates physically sound 3D worlds, World Labs is now reportedly in talks<\/a> to raise fresh funding at a valuation of $5 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s little doubt that VCs would be equally eager to invest in LeCun, adding credibility to rumors that AMI Labs might be raising funding at a $3.5 billion valuation<\/a>. According to Bloomberg, VCs in talks with the startup include Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, and Hiro Capital, to which LeCun is an advisor<\/a>. Other potential investors reportedly include 20VC, Bpifrance, Daphni, and HV Capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n Regardless of who writes the checks, investors may want to note an important detail: As LeCun has made clear<\/a>, he is AMI\u2019s executive chairman, not its CEO. Instead, that role belongs to Alex LeBrun, previously co-founder and CEO at Nabla, a health AI startup with offices in Paris and New York.<\/p>\n LeBrun\u2019s transition from Nabla to AMI is part of a partnership announced<\/a> last December by Nabla, which develops AI assistants for clinical care and to which LeCun has been an advisor. In exchange for \u201cprivileged access\u201d to AMI\u2019s world models, Nabla\u2019s board supported LeBrun\u2019s shift from CEO to chief AI scientist and chairman, clearing the way for his new role.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco As AMI Labs\u2019 CEO, LeBrun will be surrounded by familiar faces. After Facebook acquired his previous startup<\/a>, Wit.ai, the serial entrepreneur and AI engineer worked under LeCun\u2019s leadership at Meta\u2019s AI research laboratory, FAIR. According to reports<\/a>, the duo will also be joined by Laurent Solly, who stepped down<\/a> as Meta\u2019s vice president for Europe last December.<\/p>\n The talent overlap between AMI and Meta likely won\u2019t stop there. LeCun told the MIT Technology Review<\/a> that his former employer could well be AMI\u2019s first client. But he has also been publicly critical of some of Meta\u2019s strategic choices made under Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s direction. More broadly, the Review interprets AMI Labs as a contrarian bet against large language models (LLMs).<\/p>\n The limitations of LLMs that LeCun has pointed out include hallucinations, which are a serious concern in contexts like medicine, as LeBrun also knows firsthand. AMI Labs\u2019 CEO told Forbes<\/a> that a big reason he took the role was the prospect of applying its world models to healthcare. But the startup will also target other high-stakes applied fields.<\/p>\n \u201cAMI Labs will advance AI research and develop applications where reliability, controllability, and safety really matter, especially for industrial process control, automation, wearable devices, robotics, healthcare, and beyond,\u201d it wrote in its mission statement. \u201cWe share one belief: real intelligence does not start in language. It starts in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike generative approaches, which LeCun and his team see as poorly suited for unpredictable data such as sensor input, the startup promises that its AI systems will not only understand the real world, but also have persistent memory, the ability to reason and plan, and be controllable and safe.<\/p>\n The startup plans to license its technology to industry partners for real-life applications, but says it also plans to contribute to building the future of AI \u201cwith the global academic research community via open publications and open source.\u201d LeCun said he plans to keep his professor position at NYU, where he teaches one class per year and supervises PhD and postdoctoral students.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n