Yann LeCun's startup welcomes new CEO, secures $1 billion

Yann LeCun's AI startup has raised more than $1 billion in seed funding and appointed a new CEO.

In a post on X on Tuesday, entrepreneur and former Facebook researcher Alex LeBrun said he is joining LeCun and the founding team of Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs, also known as AMI Labs, as CEO.

"We have secured a $1.03 billion USD seed round to fuel our mission to build intelligent systems capable of truly understanding the real world—a long-term scientific endeavor," LeBrun said.

AMI Labs said in an X post on Tuesday that the round was co-led by Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, and Bezos Expeditions, alongside other investors.

The Paris-based startup added that it is building a team of researchers and engineers across Paris, New York, Montreal, and Singapore.

AI researcher and New York University computer science professor Saining Xie also said in a post on X on Tuesday that he has joined the founding team. Xie, who serves as cofounder and chief science officer, wrote that "AMI isn't a conventional lab."

AMI Labs is recruiting engineers, scientists, and researchers across its four global hubs, according to the company's job postings.

LeCun revealed plans to launch the startup in November after departing Meta, where he spent 12 years leading its AI research efforts.

AMI Labs will focus on building world models, a type of AI system designed to better understand and reflect how the real world works. 

LeCun had said that the startup will be among the few frontier AI labs that are "neither Chinese nor American."