Yann LeCun, Meta's former chief AI scientist and Turing Award winner, is reportedly launching a new AI startup, Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI) Labs, with a target valuation of €3 billion. LeCun is in early discussions to raise €500 million ahead of the company's January launch. The startup will focus on developing AI systems capable of understanding the physical world, moving beyond current large language models.
LeCun, a pioneer in deep learning and convolutional neural networks, aims to create AI models that simulate cause-and-effect scenarios with unprecedented accuracy. AMI will have a global presence but will emphasise European talent, with research organisations around the world. LeCun believes that Europe has a lot of talent that does not realise its full potential and that providing the right environment for this is essential.
Despite Meta's initial backing and partnership, LeCun recognised that the potential applications of his AI research extended beyond Meta's interests, leading him to establish an independent organisation. LeCun has expressed concerns about the scalability and energy efficiency of large language models, and his startup will likely explore alternative AI architectures, potentially prioritising data efficiency and real-world robotic applications.
