Yann LeCun, a pioneer in AI, is set to leave in order to establish a new company focused on AI world models.
What you should know
– Meta’s leading AI scientist is exiting the company by the year’s end to launch a startup.
– Yann LeCun, the founder of Meta’s FAIR research division and a key figure in AI, has dedicated 12 years to the organization.
– LeCun’s forthcoming startup is designed to create AI world models and will collaborate with Meta.
Meta is evolving into an artificial intelligence powerhouse, integrating Meta AI into its social applications and devices. Nevertheless, the esteemed AI scholar, who spearheaded the company’s research initiatives for more than ten years, is now embarking on a journey to establish a new startup. Yann LeCun, Meta’s vice president and chief AI scientist, plans to leave to create a firm focused on “ushering in the next revolution in AI.”
The new venture will carry forward LeCun’s exploration of Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI), which he has studied as part of Meta’s FAIR research division and at New York University as a faculty member. LeCun will remain with Meta until the year’s end and states that further information regarding the new company will be disclosed later. Importantly, it has been confirmed that Meta will collaborate with LeCun’s startup “due to their ongoing interest and support.”
LeCun announced his impending departure in a message on Threads and other social media platforms on Wednesday, November 19.
“I am establishing a startup company to pursue the Advanced Machine Intelligence research program (AMI) that I have been working on over the last several years with my colleagues at FAIR, at NYU, and beyond. The purpose of this startup is to foster the next significant breakthrough in AI: systems that comprehend the physical world, possess enduring memory, can reason, and can devise intricate action plans.” – Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta
Currently available consumer AI products predominantly consist of large language models (LLM), which hold extensive knowledge derived from written content and various other resources. However, LLMs often face challenges in remaining up-to-date or providing a profound understanding of reality. Through LeCun’s AMI initiative, the researcher aspires to construct world models that offer reasoning, knowledge, and functionalities that mirror or approximate the capabilities of the human mind.
“In my vision, AMI will possess extensive applications across numerous sectors of the economy, some of which will align with Meta’s business interests, while many will not,” LeCun expresses. “Chasing the objective of AMI within an independent organization allows for maximizing its widespread influence.”
This transition will place the leadership of Meta’s FAIR research division in new hands for the first time since its establishment. It occurs at a moment when Meta is actively recruiting AI talent and companies to contend with the likes of Google, OpenAI, and others.
“The influence of FAIR on the company, on the realm of AI, on the tech community, and on the larger world has been phenomenal,” LeCun remarks. “The establishment of FAIR stands as my most cherished non-technical achievement.”
