Yann LeCun, the pioneering AI researcher and former Chief AI Scientist at Meta, has officially confirmed the launch of his new startup, Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI Labs), though he will not serve as CEO. Instead, he will take on the role of Executive Chairman. The company has appointed Alex LeBrun, former CEO of medical AI startup Nabla, as its new CEO. LeBrun’s move was confirmed by both Nabla in a press release and LeCun via a brief post on LinkedIn. AMI Labs is reportedly seeking to raise €500 million (approximately $586 million) at a pre-launch valuation of €3 billion ($3.5 billion), according to the Financial Times, citing sources familiar with the fundraising. This ambitious target reflects the high expectations surrounding startups led by AI luminaries, especially given the recent surge in valuations for AI ventures founded by top-tier researchers. LeCun, a professor at New York University and a recipient of the A.M. Turing Award for his foundational work in reinforcement learning, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in AI. His new venture is focused on developing world model AI—systems designed to simulate and understand the physical world by modeling cause-and-effect relationships and predicting outcomes. This approach is seen as a potential solution to the hallucination issues plaguing current large language models, which often generate plausible but false information due to their non-deterministic nature. Other major players, including Google DeepMind and Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, are also investing heavily in world models. While AMI’s valuation target may seem aggressive—especially compared to World Labs’ $1 billion debut in August 2024—it aligns with the current market appetite for AI startups led by recognized experts. For context, Mira Murati’s startup, Thinking Machines Lab, secured a $12 billion valuation in its seed round last year. Nabla, which LeBrun is leaving, remains active and is now searching for a new CEO. Delphine Groll, co-founder and COO, will temporarily lead the company. Nabla has raised $120 million to date, including a $70 million Series C in June, with investors including Tony Fadell’s Build Collective, HV Capital, Highland Europe, Cathay Innovation, and LeCun himself. LeBrun brings deep experience in AI, having worked at Nuance Communications in the early 2010s—where he helped develop the technology behind Apple’s original Siri. He later founded and sold multiple natural language startups, including one to Facebook, and led Facebook’s AI division before launching Nabla in 2018. He has also announced that he will remain at Nabla as Chairman and Chief AI Scientist. Nabla confirmed it has signed a partnership agreement to integrate AMI’s future models into its own products. LeBrun shared that Nabla has more than tripled its annual recurring revenue this year and is on track to reach $1 billion in ARR. Neither AMI Labs nor Nabla has provided further comment at this time.