Yann LeCun to Leave Meta and Launch AI Startup

Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist at Meta, plans to leave the company to launch his own startup, according to the Financial Times. LeCun, a Turing Award winner and one of the pioneers of modern AI, is reportedly in early talks to raise funds for the new venture.

LeCun’s decision follows a major reorganization by Mark Zuckerberg, who has shifted Meta’s focus from long-term AI research toward faster product development. The restructuring included the creation of the Superintelligence Labs division, led by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of Scale AI. As part of these changes, LeCun now reports to Wang instead of Meta’s chief product officer.

Since joining Meta in 2013, LeCun has led its Fundamental AI Research Lab (FAIR), which developed the Llama family of language models. His work has concentrated on “world models” — AI systems designed to understand the physical world through learning from video and spatial data rather than text alone. His upcoming startup is expected to continue research in this area.

LeCun’s exit adds to a series of leadership changes at Meta, which has seen multiple senior AI researchers depart amid ongoing restructuring and an intensified push to compete with OpenAI and Google in advanced AI development.