Yann LeCun Launches Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI) with $5 Billion Valuation Ambition
Yann LeCun, a distinguished figure in artificial intelligence, has officially announced the establishment of his new venture, Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI). While LeCun will serve as the Executive Chairman, the role of Chief Executive Officer has been entrusted to Alex LeBrun, the former CEO and co-founder of Nabla, a prominent AI-driven medical transcription company.
LeBrun’s transition to AMI was disclosed through a press release from Nabla, which LeCun corroborated in a LinkedIn post, stating, Yes, AMI Labs is my new startup. I’m the Executive Chairman. And Alex LeBrun is transitioning from CEO of Nabla to CEO of AMI Labs!
In a bold move, AMI is reportedly seeking to raise €500 million (approximately $586 million) at a valuation of €3 billion (around $3.5 billion) even before its official launch. This ambitious fundraising goal reflects the current trend of substantial investments in AI startups helmed by renowned scientists. For instance, Mira Murati, former CTO of OpenAI, secured a $12 billion valuation for her startup, Thinking Machines Lab, during its seed funding round last year.
LeCun’s credentials are impressive. A professor at New York University and former Vice President and Chief AI Scientist at Meta, he is a recipient of the prestigious A.M. Turing Award for his contributions to reinforcement learning.
AMI’s focus will be on developing ‘world model’ AI systems. Unlike traditional large language models (LLMs), which can sometimes produce inaccurate information due to their non-deterministic nature, world models aim to understand their environment comprehensively. This understanding enables them to simulate cause-and-effect scenarios and predict outcomes more reliably, addressing some of the structural issues associated with LLMs.
The AI community is increasingly exploring world models as a solution to the limitations of LLMs. Leading organizations like Google DeepMind and Fei-Fei Li’s startup, World Labs, are also investing in this area. When World Labs launched, it raised $230 million at a $1 billion valuation, a significant figure at the time. However, AMI’s current fundraising aspirations are notably more ambitious.
Nabla, in light of LeBrun’s departure, has announced that co-founder and COO Delphine Groll will assume leadership responsibilities temporarily while the company searches for a new CEO. Additionally, Nabla has entered into a partnership to utilize AMI’s models as they are developed.
Nabla has been a standout in the Paris-based AI startup scene, having raised a total of $120 million from notable investors, including a $70 million Series C round in June. LeCun is among Nabla’s investors, alongside Tony Fadell’s Build Collective, HV Capital, Highland Europe, and Cathay Innovation.
LeBrun’s extensive experience in multimodal AI positions him well for his new role at AMI. His background includes work at Nuance Communications in the early 2010s, contributions to Apple’s Siri, founding and selling natural language startups, and leading Facebook’s AI division before establishing Nabla in 2018.
Under LeBrun’s leadership, Nabla has experienced significant growth. He noted, We have more than tripled our live ARR this year. Up next to $1B! While stepping down as CEO, LeBrun will continue to serve as chairman and chief AI scientist at Nabla.
As AMI embarks on its journey to develop advanced world model AI systems, the industry will be closely watching its progress and impact on the broader AI landscape.
