Godfather of AI, Yann LeCun Quits Meta to Launch Independent AI Startup

Yann LeCun, the legendary computer scientist widely known as one of the "Godfathers of AI," has officially announced his resignation from Meta Platforms after a 12-year tenure. LeCun, who served as the company's Chief AI Scientist, confirmed on Wednesday that he will depart at the end of the year to launch an independent startup focused on "Advanced Machine Intelligence" (AMI).


The move marks the end of an era for Meta’s research division and highlights a growing philosophical divide in the artificial intelligence community between the pursuit of commercial chatbots and the quest for true machine reasoning.

A New Path for "World Models"

In a detailed post on social media, LeCun explained that his new venture will focus on building AI systems that can "understand the physical world, have persistent memory, can reason, and can plan complex action sequences."

This mission is a direct continuation of his long-standing advocacy for "World Models"—a theoretical framework for AI that moves beyond the statistical prediction of text (like ChatGPT) to a deeper, human-like understanding of cause and effect. LeCun has been a vocal critic of the current industry obsession with Large Language Models (LLMs), frequently describing them as "useful but limited" and arguing they are an "off-ramp" on the road to true general intelligence.


"The goal of the startup is to bring about the next big revolution in AI," LeCun wrote. "Pursuing the goal of AMI in an independent entity is a way to maximize its broad impact."


Strategic Split, Not a Severed Tie

Despite his departure, LeCun is not severing ties with the social media giant entirely. He announced that Meta will remain a "strategic partner" to his new firm. He expressed gratitude to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives for their support of the Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) lab, which LeCun founded in 2013.


"Because of their continued interest and support, Meta will be a partner of the new company," LeCun stated, noting that while some of his new research will overlap with Meta's commercial interests, much of it will be broader in scope.

Context: Internal Shifts and Restructuring

The departure comes amidst a turbulent period for Meta's AI division. The company recently underwent a significant restructuring, creating a new "Superintelligence Labs" unit to fast-track the development of commercial AI products.


Reports indicate that this shift toward product-focused development—and away from the open-ended, academic research LeCun championed—created friction. Earlier this year, Meta appointed Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI, as its new Chief AI Officer, a move that reportedly placed LeCun under new management and signaled a pivot toward aggressive commercialization to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Google.


LeCun’s exit follows a wave of high-profile departures across the tech industry, as top researchers increasingly leave massive corporate labs to build independent ventures where they can pursue long-term scientific goals without the pressure of quarterly product cycles.