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Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

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Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#501

Post by levocardia »

aiven wrote: post #206
garyclarke27 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuck did this on purpose, humiliating LeCun so he would leave. Despite LeCun being proved wrong on LLMs capabilities such as reasoning, he remained extremely negative, not exactly inspiring leadership to the Meta Ai team, he had to go.

But LLMs still can't reason... in a reasonable sense. No matter how you look at it, it is still a statistical model that guesses next word, it doesn't think/reason per se.

It is insane to think this in 2025 unless you define "reasoning" as "the thing I can do that LLMs cannot"

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#502

Post by JCM9 »

mehulashah wrote: post #277

Most of the folks on this topic are focused on Meta and Yann’s departure. But, I’m seeing something different. This is the weirdest technology market that I’ve seen. Researchers are getting rewarded with VC money to try what remains a science experiment. That used to be a bad word and now that gets rewarded with billions of dollars in valuation.

Get the popcorn ready for when that all implodes. Most of these folks getting funding don’t have the slightest clue on how to build a sustainable business.

When the bubble pops, and it’s very close to popping, there’s going to be a lot of burning piles of cash with no viable path to reviver that money.

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#503

Post by Anon1096 »

renegade-otter wrote: post #365
brandall10 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta hiring researchers en masse at $100m+ pay packages is fairly new, as of this summer. I don't know if that's indicative of the market as a whole though. Zuck just seems really gutted they fell behind with Llama 4.

A lot of them left in the first days on the job. I guess they saw what they were going to work on and peaced out. No one wants to work on AI slop and mental abuse of children on social media.

Stated without a shred of evidence and getting no pushback. Classic for a nonsense claim about big tech company HN doesn't like, lol.

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#504

Post by SamPatt »

gdulli wrote: post #496
SamPatt wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we define intelligence as problem solving ability, then AI makes _me_ more intelligent, and I'm willing to pay for that.

The calculator didn't make people better at math, it led to a society of people who can't do math without a calculator. And as a result math doesn't get done in many casual situations where it would be helpful, but people don't go to the trouble of pulling out the calculator. So it's made it easier for people to be taken advantage of at the grocery store etc.

You blame the calculator for people's innumeracy?

I'd argue it's a failure of education or general lack of intelligence. The existence of a tool to speed the process up doesn't preclude people understanding the process.

I don't think this relates as closely to AI as you seem to. I'm simply better at building things, and doing things, with AI than without. Not just faster, better. If that's not true for you, you're either using it wrong or maybe you already knew how to do everything already - if so, good for you!

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#505

Post by fooker »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #453
rockinghigh wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't the original LLaMA developed by FAIR Paris?

I hadn't heard that, but he was heavily involved in a cancelled project called Galactica that was an LLM for scientific knowledge.

Yeah that stuff generated embarrassingly wrong scientific 'facts' and citations.

That kind of hallucination is somewhat acceptable for something marketed as a chatbot, less so for an assistant helping you with scientific knowledge and research.

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#506

Post by Legend2440 »

dauertewigkeit wrote: post #185
gregjw wrote: post #33

Interesting he isn't just working with Feifei Li if he's really interested in 'world models'.

Correct me if I'm wrong but LeCun is focused on learning from video, whereas Fei-Fei Li is doing robotic simulations. Also I think Fei-Fei Li's approach is still using transformers and not buying into JEPA.

JEPA is not an alternative to transformers, it is built out of transformers.

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#507

Post by fooker »

astrange wrote: post #430
sharmajai wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Product companies with deprioritized R&D wings are the first ones to die.

Apple doesn't have an "R&D wing". It's a bad idea to split your company into the cool part and the boring part.

Isn't that why Siri is worse today than it was thirteen years ago?

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#508

Post by j45 »

mehulashah wrote: post #277

Most of the folks on this topic are focused on Meta and Yann’s departure. But, I’m seeing something different. This is the weirdest technology market that I’ve seen. Researchers are getting rewarded with VC money to try what remains a science experiment. That used to be a bad word and now that gets rewarded with billions of dollars in valuation.

It might not be a science experiment.

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#509

Post by HDThoreaun »

whiplash451 wrote: post #473
xuancanh wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In industry research, someone in a chief position like LeCun should know how to balance long-term research with short-term projects. However, for whatever reason, he consistently shows hostility toward LLMs and engineering projects, even though Llama and PyTorch are two of the most influential projects from Meta AI. His attitude doesn’t really match what is expected from a Chief position at a product company like Fac…

It's very hard (and almost irreconcilable) to lead both Applied Research -- that optimizes for product/business outcomes -- and Fundamental Research -- that optimizes for novel ideas -- especially at the scale of Meta. LeCun had chosen to focus on the latter. He can't be blamed for not having taken the second hat.

Yes he can. If he wanted to focus on fundamental research he shouldn’t have accepted a leadership position at a product company. He knew going in that releasing products was part of his job and largely blew it.

Re: Yann LeCun to depart Meta and launch AI startup focused on 'world models'

#510

Post by warkdarrior »

bitbuilder wrote: post #433
sidewndr46 wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely possible they don't have the ability in house to resolve it. Based on the report this is a user interface issue. It could just be some strange setting they enabled somewhere. But it's also possible it's the result of some dependency 3 or 4 levels removed from their product. Even worse, it could be the result of interactions between multiple dependencies that are only apparent at runtime.

>It's entirely possible they don't have the ability in house to resolve it. I've started breathing a little easier about the possibilty of AI taking all our software engineering jobs after using Anthropic's dev tools. If the people making the models and tools that are supposed to take all our jobs can't even fix their own issues in a dependable and expedient manner, then we're probably going to be ok for a bit. This…

AGI/ASI does not need perfect terminal rendering to crush all humans like bugs.
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