The artificial intelligence research landscape is witnessing another major inflection point with the emergence of AMI Labs,
the new venture founded by legendary AI scientist Yann LeCun after his departure from Meta. Since its quiet formation, AMI Labs has drawn intense attention across Silicon Valley and global research circles. This week, the startup officially confirmed what it is building—and several crucial details had been hiding in plain sight all along.
On its newly launched website, AMI Labs disclosed its mission to develop “world models” designed to build intelligent systems that understand the real world. While the company had remained largely in stealth mode, its name—AMI, short for Advanced Machine Intelligence—had already hinted at its ambitions. With this announcement, AMI Labs has formally entered the ranks of the most closely watched AI research startups in the world.
Why World Models Are the Next Frontier in AI:
The concept of world models has rapidly become one of the most exciting and competitive areas in artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional large language models that primarily process text, world models aim to create internal representations of the physical world—allowing AI systems to reason, predict, and interact more effectively with real-world environments.
Building foundational AI models that bridge digital intelligence and physical reality is now a top priority for researchers and investors alike. These models promise breakthroughs in robotics, simulation, healthcare, autonomous systems, and scientific discovery. As a result, world models have attracted top-tier scientists and massive venture capital investments—often before any commercial product is publicly released.
AMI Labs Enters a Competitive Field:
AMI Labs is not alone in this pursuit. One of its most prominent rivals is World Labs, a startup founded by renowned AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li. World Labs quickly became a unicorn shortly after emerging from stealth and recently launched its first product, Marble, which generates physically accurate 3D worlds.
According to reports, World Labs is now in discussions to raise new funding at a $5 billion valuation, further validating investor appetite for companies working on world models and real-world AI systems.
Given Yann LeCun’s reputation as one of the founding figures of modern deep learning, there is little doubt that venture capital firms would be equally eager to back AMI Labs.
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Start Free DemoFunding Rumors and Potential Investors:
While AMI Labs has not officially confirmed a funding round, Bloomberg reports that the startup may be raising capital at a $3.5 billion valuation. Venture capital firms reportedly in talks with AMI Labs include Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, and Hiro Capital—the latter notable because LeCun serves as an advisor to the firm.
Additional potential investors mentioned in reports include 20VC, Bpifrance, Daphni, and HV Capital, signaling strong interest from both European and global investment firms. Whether or not these talks materialize into a formal round, the scale of the rumored valuation underscores the confidence investors have in LeCun’s vision.
Leadership Structure: LeCun as Executive Chairman:
One critical detail investors and industry watchers should note is AMI Labs’ leadership structure. Despite being its most famous figure, Yann LeCun is not the CEO of the company. Instead, he serves as executive chairman, focusing on long-term research direction and scientific strategy.
The role of CEO belongs to Alex LeBrun, a seasoned entrepreneur who previously served as co-founder and CEO of Nabla, a health AI startup with offices in Paris and New York. Nabla is known for developing AI assistants for clinical care, positioning LeBrun at the intersection of applied AI and real-world deployment.
The Nabla–AMI Partnership:
LeBrun’s move from Nabla to AMI Labs is part of a broader partnership announced last December. As part of the agreement, Nabla receives privileged access to AMI Labs’ world models, which could significantly enhance its healthcare AI products.
In exchange, Nabla’s board supported LeBrun’s transition from CEO to chief AI scientist and chairman, allowing him to take on his new role at AMI Labs without severing ties to the healthcare AI company. This arrangement highlights the increasingly collaborative nature of advanced AI research, where foundational models are developed by specialized labs and then applied across multiple industries.
What AMI Labs Represents for the AI Industry:
AMI Labs represents a growing trend in artificial intelligence: the rise of research-first AI startups focused on long-term breakthroughs rather than immediate commercialization. With world models at its core, AMI aims to push AI beyond pattern recognition and language generation toward true machine understanding of the physical world.
As competition intensifies among AI labs led by figures like Yann LeCun and Fei-Fei Li, the race to define the next generation of intelligent systems is accelerating.
Whether AMI Labs ultimately becomes a platform company, a research powerhouse, or both, its emergence signals a pivotal shift in how AI will be built—and how deeply it will understand the world we live in.
