Meta AI Pioneer Yann LeCun Exits to Launch Advanced Machine Intelligence Startup

LeCun is establishing a new venture centered on what he terms Advanced Machine Intelligence.

Yann LeCun, a pioneering figure in artificial intelligence who oversees a research laboratory at Meta Platforms Inc., has informed staff members that he will be leaving the social media giant at the conclusion of this year to launch a new company, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News.

According to the memo shared with Meta colleagues, LeCun, who has been with Meta since 2013, made this announcement on Wednesday. The social media corporation intends to collaborate with LeCun on his startup, though specific arrangements are still being finalized, as indicated by someone familiar with the company's plans. In the memo, LeCun mentioned that Meta "will be a partner of the new company and will have access to its innovations."

LeCun's new enterprise will focus on what he describes as Advanced Machine Intelligence, an AI form that trains on visual and other sensory information, enabling the technology to make predictions about the physical world.

"The goal of the startup is to bring about the next big revolution in AI: systems that understand the physical world, have persistent memory, can reason, and can plan complex action sequences," LeCun stated in the memo, adding that the startup will continue research he has explored with colleagues at Meta and New York University, where he holds a professorship.

The technology "will have far-ranging applications in many sectors of the economy, some of which overlap with Meta's commercial interests, but many of which do not," LeCun explained. "Pursuing the goal of AMI in an independent entity is a way to maximise its broad impact."

A Meta spokesperson confirmed LeCun's departure. LeCun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LeCun is renowned as one of the "godfathers" of the AI industry. His position at Meta centered on long-term AI research, much of which would not affect consumer experiences for years or even decades. According to individuals familiar with the company, LeCun encountered difficulties securing resources for his projects at Meta as the company increasingly concentrated on developing models to compete with immediate challenges from competitors, including OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and Anthropic PBC.

LeCun was also vocal about his belief that Meta and other AI companies were misguided in their strategy to focus on large language models, or LLMs, as a pathway to human-level intelligence for AI systems, publicly arguing that so-called world models like JEPA represented a superior approach. Meta's primary AI offering, Llama, is based on an LLM, as is OpenAI's ChatGPT. LeCun's open criticism of Meta's strategies led to internal conflicts with others, according to these individuals.

When Meta established a new AI laboratory earlier this summer, investing billions in AI talent and researchers, the company recruited leadership for the group and a chief AI scientist from outside the organization.

Earlier this year, after Meta unveiled its Llama 4 model that received a lukewarm reception from industry experts and began its shift toward "superintelligence," several Meta employees attempted to minimize LeCun's visibility, including at public speaking engagements, because they no longer viewed him as representative of the company's AI strategy and couldn't trust that he would adhere to the company message, particularly regarding LLMs, according to these individuals. LeCun was also a key advocate for open-sourcing the technology - an approach that the company has publicly moved away from.

The Financial Times previously reported on LeCun's plans to launch a startup.