Yann LeCun's Departure Marks New Chapter for Meta and A.I. Researcher in Physical Models.
In a significant development, Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist, is set to leave the tech giant to launch his own physical A.I. startup, according to sources familiar with the matter. This move comes as Meta doubles down on advanced A.I. systems and superintelligence research, reorienting its efforts towards developing world models that can perceive their environments.
LeCun's skepticism about large language models (LLMs) has been well-documented, with him previously calling them a "dead end" for reaching human-like A.I. He has instead advocated for systems that can grasp physical concepts like gravity. His own work at Meta's Fundamental AI Research lab, now on the back burner due to internal restructuring, contributed to early versions of the company's Llama model.
The French-American computer scientist, known for his pioneering research in machine learning, is poised to focus on "world models" – A.I. systems that can understand and interact with the physical world. LeCun has been exploring this idea through his work at Meta, but now embarks on a new venture that centers on training A.I. to perceive their environments.
This move comes as other researchers and companies also explore the potential of world models. Stanford's Fei-Fei Li has raised millions for her startup World Labs, while Google DeepMind has experimented with world models through its Genie releases. Nvidia is also pushing into physical A.I. with products like its Cosmos world models.
LeCun believes that world models are essential for developing A.I. that can reason, plan complex actions, and make predictions. "We're never going to get to human-level A.I. by just training on text," he said in a recent Harvard talk. Despite the skepticism from some A.I. CEOs, LeCun's work on physical models suggests that this approach is gaining traction.
The departure of Yann LeCun marks another significant shift at Meta, as the company prioritizes advanced A.I. research over long-term exploratory work. His new venture will likely attract attention and investment in the coming months, highlighting the growing importance of world models in A.I. development.
In a significant development, Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist, is set to leave the tech giant to launch his own physical A.I. startup, according to sources familiar with the matter. This move comes as Meta doubles down on advanced A.I. systems and superintelligence research, reorienting its efforts towards developing world models that can perceive their environments.
LeCun's skepticism about large language models (LLMs) has been well-documented, with him previously calling them a "dead end" for reaching human-like A.I. He has instead advocated for systems that can grasp physical concepts like gravity. His own work at Meta's Fundamental AI Research lab, now on the back burner due to internal restructuring, contributed to early versions of the company's Llama model.
The French-American computer scientist, known for his pioneering research in machine learning, is poised to focus on "world models" – A.I. systems that can understand and interact with the physical world. LeCun has been exploring this idea through his work at Meta, but now embarks on a new venture that centers on training A.I. to perceive their environments.
This move comes as other researchers and companies also explore the potential of world models. Stanford's Fei-Fei Li has raised millions for her startup World Labs, while Google DeepMind has experimented with world models through its Genie releases. Nvidia is also pushing into physical A.I. with products like its Cosmos world models.
LeCun believes that world models are essential for developing A.I. that can reason, plan complex actions, and make predictions. "We're never going to get to human-level A.I. by just training on text," he said in a recent Harvard talk. Despite the skepticism from some A.I. CEOs, LeCun's work on physical models suggests that this approach is gaining traction.
The departure of Yann LeCun marks another significant shift at Meta, as the company prioritizes advanced A.I. research over long-term exploratory work. His new venture will likely attract attention and investment in the coming months, highlighting the growing importance of world models in A.I. development.
. I mean, we all knew he was skeptical about large language models (LLMs), but to see him launch his own startup focused on physical AIs? That's like, next level 
! World models are finally getting the recognition they deserve 
. LeCun's vision for AI that can reason, plan complex actions, and make predictions is so needed in this industry 
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. The competition is heating up, and I'm all about it! LeCun's departure from Meta marks a new chapter in AI research, and I'm excited to see what he'll achieve with his own startup 
. Bring on the innovation!
this move by Yann LeCun is kinda interesting, but what's worrying me is that other companies like Meta are jumping on the physical AI bandwagon without thinking it through 
. I mean, we've seen those fancy demos of world models but how are they gonna scale? It's one thing to train a model on a small dataset but what happens when you're dealing with real-world complexity and uncertainty?
. I'm all for innovation, but let's not rush into something without thinking about the long-term implications.
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. Like, don't get me wrong, he's done some amazing work on AI, but all that LLM stuff can be a bit meh to me 
. But at the same time, I'm also kinda bummed out that Meta is focusing more on those world models 
. Like, what if they're just trying to recreate the same old problems with new toys? 
. Is he really going to try and revolutionize AI by training AIs to perceive their environments? 
. But at the same time... what if it works? What if world models are the key to unlocking true human-level AI? 
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. Part of me is like, "Yaaas, let LeCun do his own thing!" 
, but another part of me is like, "Uh, what if he fails?" 
. I guess only time will tell... 
he's been all about pushing physical ai boundaries for ages, and it's rad to see him take his expertise to a new startup 
i feel like we're on the cusp of something big with world models - the idea that ai can really "see" and interact with our world feels super promising 
meta's doubling down on advanced systems is one thing, but having yann lecun at the helm of his own startup is a whole other story 
i'm intrigued to see what kind of research he'll be focusing on next... maybe we'll get some real breakthroughs in world models? 
he's been talking about world models for ages and it's finally happening 
anyone else excited about this? #AIImpact #WorldModels #YannLeCun