Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun to quit, plans AMI startup

Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, the founding director of its Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab, is leaving the company after 12 years to launch a new venture focused on Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI). 

LeCun said he expects to remain at Meta through the end of the year while preparing the startup, which he described as an effort to build systems that can understand the physical world, reason, plan complex actions and retain persistent memory. 

He added that Meta will be a partner in the new company.

LeCun’s exit follows weeks of restructuring and layoffs affecting FAIR, the blue-sky research unit he created in 2013. He has long been skeptical of the long-term potential of large language models, positioning his work on “world models” and alternative architectures as a different path toward more capable AI. 

In a note announcing his plans, he called FAIR’s creation his “proudest non-technical accomplishment.”

Meta has not detailed how LeCun’s departure will reshape its broader AI strategy. 

The company this year disclosed a $14.3 billion investment for a 49% stake in Scale AI, part of a push toward advanced AI systems and a “superintelligence” programme, with Scale founder Alexandr Wang joining Meta’s effort while remaining on Scale’s board.

LeCun, a Turing Award laureate and professor at New York University, co-founded FAIR and served as its director until 2018 before continuing as Meta’s chief AI scientist. 

His new AMI venture will operate independently while collaborating with Meta where interests align, he said.