AMI Labs, an artificial intelligence research startup co-founded by Turing Award winner Yann LeCun, has raised $1.03 billion at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation to develop a new category of AI systems known as world models.
The company is focused on building AI that learns from real-world environments rather than relying solely on language-based training data.
The funding round was co-led by Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, and Bezos Expeditions, with participation from a wide range of institutional investors and technology leaders.
World Models Aim To Move Beyond Language-Based AI
AMI Labs is working on world models, a type of AI designed to understand how the physical world functions by learning patterns from real-world data.
The concept differs from current large language models, which primarily learn from text.
Chief executive Alexandre LeBrun said the idea is to create systems that reason about reality instead of relying only on language-based predictions.
“My prediction is that ‘world models’ will be the next buzzword,” LeBrun told TechCrunch. “In six months, every company will call itself a world model to raise funding.”
LeBrun said AMI Labs aims to distinguish itself by focusing on deeper understanding of real-world systems.
Healthcare Seen As Early Application Area
One of the first areas where the technology could be applied is healthcare.
AMI Labs’ first disclosed partner will be Nabla, a digital health company where LeBrun previously served as chief executive and now acts as chairman.
LeBrun said his experience working in healthcare highlighted the limitations of current AI models.
Large language models can sometimes generate incorrect information, a problem known as hallucination, which can create risks in medical environments.
He said world models could provide more reliable reasoning by learning directly from real-world signals.
Long-Term Research Project With No Immediate Revenue
AMI Labs is positioning itself as a research-driven organization rather than a typical startup focused on rapid commercialization.
LeBrun said the company expects development to take years before producing widely deployable products.
“AMI Labs is a very ambitious project, because it starts with fundamental research,” he said.
“It’s not your typical applied AI startup that can release a product in three months, have revenue in six months and make $10 million in annual recurring revenue in 12 months.”
The company plans to invest heavily in computing infrastructure and recruiting top research talent.
LeBrun said the team will prioritize quality over size while building research groups across several locations.
Global Research Hubs Planned
AMI Labs plans to build teams in four main cities.
The company is headquartered in Paris.
Additional research operations will be based in New York, where LeCun teaches at New York University, as well as Montreal and Singapore.
LeBrun said Singapore will help the company access AI talent and build relationships with potential partners in Asia.
Although the company does not plan to generate revenue in the near term, it intends to collaborate with industry partners early in the research process.
“We are developing world models that seek to understand the world, and you can’t do that locked up in a lab,” LeBrun said.
“At some point, we need to put the model in a real-world situation with real data and real evaluations.”
Strong Investor Interest In AI Infrastructure Research
AMI Labs raised more funding than initially expected.
Reports last December suggested the company was targeting roughly €500 million, but the final round reached approximately €890 million.
LeBrun said the strong interest from investors allowed the company to select partners based on strategic alignment.
The startup’s leadership team also includes former Meta executive Laurent Solly as chief operating officer.
Researchers Saining Xie, Pascale Fung, and Michael Rabbat hold senior research roles focused on world model development.
Additional investors in the round include NVIDIA, Samsung, Sea, Temasek, and Toyota Ventures.
Other participants include Association Familiale Mulliez, Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, Publicis Groupe, Aglaé Lab, Alpha Intelligence Capital, Artémis, Bpifrance Digital Venture, New Legacy Ventures, SBVA, and ZEBOX Ventures.
Individual investors include Tim and Rosemary Berners-Lee, Jim Breyer, Mark Cuban, Mark Leslie, Xavier Niel, and Eric Schmidt.
Commitment To Open Research
AMI Labs said it plans to publish research papers and release open-source code as the project develops.
LeBrun said the founders believe open collaboration can accelerate progress in AI research.
“We will also make a lot of code open source,” he said.
He added that the company hopes to build a research community around world model development as the field evolves.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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