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

    (www.nasdaq.com)
    765 points MindBreaker2605 | 13 comments | 12 Nov 25 07:25 UTC | HN request time: 0.217s | source | bottom
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    llamasushi ◴[12 Nov 25 08:24 UTC] No.45897654[source]▶
    LeCun, who's been saying LLMs are a dead end for years, is finally putting his money where his mouth is. Watch for LeCun to raise an absolutely massive VC round.
    replies(2): >>45897857 #>>45899814 #
    1. conradfr ◴[12 Nov 25 08:50 UTC] No.45897857[source]▶
    So not his money ;)
    replies(3): >>45899305 #>>45900739 #>>45901844 #
    2. qwertox ◴[12 Nov 25 12:25 UTC] No.45899305[source]▶
    But his responsability.
    replies(2): >>45899506 #>>45899693 #
    3. zwnow ◴[12 Nov 25 12:49 UTC] No.45899506[source]▶
    What is responsibility if you can afford good lawyers?
    replies(1): >>45900223 #
    4. coldpie ◴[12 Nov 25 13:09 UTC] No.45899693[source]▶
    Pretty funny post. He won't be held responsible for any failures. Worst case scenario for this guy is he hires a bunch of people, the company folds some time later, his employees take the responsibility by getting fired, and he sails into the sunset on several yachts.
    replies(1): >>45901435 #
    5. qwertox ◴[12 Nov 25 13:56 UTC] No.45900223{3}[source]▶
    So you mean that Mark Zuckerberg has always been a peer to YLC in terms of responsibility towards Meta's shareholders?
    replies(1): >>45900331 #
    6. zwnow ◴[12 Nov 25 14:05 UTC] No.45900331{4}[source]▶
    I mean any entity that can afford good lawyers seems to not care about responsibility in the slightest.
    7. seydor ◴[12 Nov 25 14:36 UTC] No.45900739[source]▶
    like openAI and all other AI startups?
    8. modeless ◴[12 Nov 25 15:33 UTC] No.45901435{3}[source]▶
    He is 65, and certainly rich enough to retire many times over. He's not doing this to scam money out of VCs. He wants to prove his ideas work.
    replies(1): >>45901865 #
    9. JamesSwift ◴[12 Nov 25 16:05 UTC] No.45901844[source]▶
    Putting VCs money into food where his mouth is*
    10. coldpie ◴[12 Nov 25 16:07 UTC] No.45901865{4}[source]▶
    So he's not using his own money, and he has enough personal wealth that there is no impact to him if the company fails. It's just another rich guy enjoying his toys. Good on him, I hope he has fun, but the responsibility for failure will be held by his employees, not him.
    replies(1): >>45902519 #
    11. daveguy ◴[12 Nov 25 16:56 UTC] No.45902519{5}[source]▶
    LeCun's net worth is estimated between 5-10 million.

    Just for payroll of 10 AI researchers at 300k/yr would cost over $3 million per year. And his wealth probably isn't fully liquid. Given payroll + compute he would be bankrupt in a year. Of course he's not using just his own money.

    However, I expect he will be a major investor. Most founders prefer to maintain some control.

    replies(1): >>45904286 #
    12. IncreasePosts ◴[12 Nov 25 18:53 UTC] No.45904286{6}[source]▶
    He's been leading a large, important organization at Meta for 13 years. The stock has 10x'd in that time. He's almost certainly worth way more than that. Those random google sites that talk about net worth have no real idea what they're guessing at and are more akin to clickbait
    replies(1): >>45905723 #
    13. daveguy ◴[12 Nov 25 20:08 UTC] No.45905723{7}[source]▶
    Ok, great. So he'll only lose 10% of his net worth per year if it fails. Better for some VC to lose 1% of their net worth per year.

    The point is, VC money for an AI venture is not chump change even for someone with a $10-$100MM net worth. The point still stands, including his own expected investment.