Meta鈥檚 chief artificial intelligence researcher Yann LeCun on Wednesday confirmed he is departing the tech giant to focus on a startup seeking a breakthrough in machine intelligence.
鈥楢s many of you have heard through rumours or recent media articles, I am planning to leave Meta after 12 years,鈥� LeCun said in a post on his Facebook page.
鈥業 am creating a startup company to continue the Advanced Machine Intelligence research program (AMI) I have been pursuing over the last several years with colleagues.鈥�
The 65-year-old French engineer said the goal of the startup is to bring about 鈥榯he next big revolution in AI鈥� with systems that understand the physical world and can reason as well as plan actions.
A breakthrough in that area could pave the way for more capable AI-powered machines, such as robots that adapt to situations for which they are not programmed.
Meta will be a partner of the new company, according to LeCun.
LeCun spent 12 years leading the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) lab at Meta, where chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has made the quest for 鈥榮uperintelligence鈥� a priority.
