Startup Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI) has secured $1.03 billion in funding, valuing the company at $3.5 billion pre-money, as it pursues a new direction in artificial intelligence.
The company was founded by former Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, who aims to commercialize AI systems focused on reasoning, planning, and “world models.”
The investment positions AMI as a major test of LeCun’s view that current large language models (LLMs) lack true reasoning capabilities and autonomous decision-making.
LeCun argues that today’s AI systems, which primarily predict the next word or pixel, cannot alone produce broadly capable intelligent agents.
AMI is developing systems designed to operate in complex real-world environments, enabling machines to reason, plan, and interact with dynamic systems.
Early target clients include manufacturers, automakers, aerospace firms, and pharmaceutical companies managing highly complex operational environments.
LeCun also sees future consumer applications, including domestic robots capable of understanding and navigating the physical world with a degree of common sense.
He added that AMI is discussing potential integration of its technology with Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which could become one of the company’s earliest deployment opportunities.
