Overview
- Financial Times reports LeCun has told colleagues he plans to depart in the coming months and is in early fundraising talks for a new venture, a development not yet confirmed by Meta or LeCun.
- His planned startup would pursue “world models,” AI that learns from video and spatial data to simulate cause and effect, reflecting his view that large language models will not achieve human‑like reasoning.
- Meta restructured its AI efforts this year with a roughly $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and by hiring its founder Alexandr Wang to run Meta Superintelligence Labs, shifting LeCun’s reporting line to Wang.
- The move follows an internal turn toward rapid productization after Llama 4 underwhelmed, a series of AI reorganizations, about 600 research job cuts, and the departure of senior leaders including Joelle Pineau.
- Meta shares fell about 1% after the report, reflecting investor concern over heavy AI spending and uncertainty around the company’s research direction.