Yann LeCun’s AMI Labs launches with a $1.03B seed to build world models around JEPA

**Yann LeCun** launched **Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI Labs)** with a record **$1.03B seed round** at a **$3.5B pre-money valuation**, aiming to build AI models that understand the **physical world** through **world models** rather than just language prediction. The startup, based in **Europe** with locations in **Paris** and **Zürich**, is framed as a major milestone for European AI and backed by a prominent founding team including **Alex Lebrun**, **Saining Xie**, and **Pascale Fung**. The mission is described as a "long-term scientific endeavor" to create AI that "perceives, learns, reasons and acts" in the real world.