LeCun, who has been instrumental in shaping Meta’s AI strategy, confirmed last month that he would leave the social media giant at the end of the year to concentrate on a venture aimed at developing a new generation of superintelligent AI systems. The startup is expected to explore so-called “world models” — AI systems capable of understanding the physical world, with potential applications in robotics, transportation, and other sectors.
The report also noted that Alexandre LeBrun, founder of French health tech startup Nabla, is slated to serve as the startup’s chief executive, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The scale of early funding commitments and the lofty pre-launch valuation have reignited discussions about an AI investment bubble, with some industry leaders cautioning that the current excitement around AI may have outpaced underlying business fundamentals.
LeCun is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of deep learning, alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio — a trio honored with the 2018 Turing Award, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing.”
LeCun did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
If successful, the venture could place LeCun at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation, leveraging his decades of experience to tackle some of the most ambitious goals in artificial intelligence.