Dec 18 (Reuters) – Meta’s outgoing chief artificial intelligence scientist Yann LeCun is holding early talks to raise 500 million euros ($586.00 million) for a new startup that would value the AI firm at about 3 billion euros ahead of its official launch, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The report said LeCun has tapped Alexandre LeBrun, the founder of French health tech startup Nabla, as chief executive, citing people familiar with the matter.
LeCun played a key role in developing Meta’s AI ambitions, and said last month that he will leave the social media giant at the end of the year to focus on a new startup that aims to build a new generation of superintelligent AI systems.
Strong funding commitments and a high valuation before launch could fuel fears of an AI bubble after industry leaders warned that enthusiasm for AI may have outstripped business fundamentals.
The startup plans to build AI systems using so-called world models that can understand the physical world. The systems could support applications including robotics and transport.
LeCun did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
He is widely regarded as one of the “godfathers” of deep learning, alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio — a trio that won the 2018 Turing Award, often called the Nobel Prize of computing.
($1 = 0.8532 euros)
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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