News

Meta AI Chief Yann LeCun to Leave Company, Launch Startup Focused on 'World Models'

• By John K. Waters
• 11/12/2025

Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, is preparing to leave the company to launch a new startup centered on an alternative approach to artificial intelligence, according to people familiar with the matter. The Turing Award-winning researcher plans to focus on "world models," AI systems that aim to simulate the physical world by learning from video and spatial data rather than relying solely on text.

LeCun’s exit follows a period of strategic upheaval within Meta’s AI division. In recent months, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has shifted resources from long-term research toward fast-paced product development, emphasizing large language models (LLMs) and consumer-facing tools to compete with rivals such as OpenAI and Google.

LeCun is reportedly in early fundraising talks and expects to depart Meta in the coming months formally. His new venture will build on his work inside the company’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab, which he founded in 2013. LeCun has long advocated for the development of systems capable of reasoning, planning, and understanding physical environments—capabilities that current LLMs generally lack.

The planned departure highlights growing philosophical differences inside Meta about the direction of AI research. While some engineers suggest that today’s transformer-based models have absorbed structural patterns from training data that mimic understanding, most findings point to sophisticated pattern recognition rather than genuine comprehension of physical dynamics.

Zuckerberg’s AI overhaul began in earnest after Meta’s Llama 4 model underperformed earlier this year. The model failed to match the capabilities of leading offerings from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, leading to criticism from investors and industry observers.

In response, Meta acquired a 49 percent stake in Scale AI for $14.3 billion and appointed its founder, Alexandr Wang, to lead a newly formed Superintelligence team. LeCun, who had previously reported to Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, was reassigned to report to Wang. The shift in reporting structure marked a significant internal reshuffle and appeared to marginalize LeCun’s research agenda.

In parallel, Meta assembled a new elite research group, TBD Lab, offering compensation packages of $100 million or more to recruit AI talent from rival firms. These efforts have yet to deliver a breakout product. Meta’s consumer AI chatbot, launched in 2024, has struggled to gain traction and has been marred by controversies, particularly around interactions with younger users.

LeCun will retain his academic post at New York University, where he has taught since 2003. His departure adds to a wave of leadership changes at Meta’s AI unit, which also included the exit of Joelle Pineau to Cohere and the arrival of Shengjia Zhao from OpenAI.