Yann LeCun, a prominent figure in artificial intelligence and former chief AI scientist at Meta, has opened up about his departure from the company in a recent interview with The Financial Times. His exit in November 2022 appears to stem from a deteriorating relationship with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the rise of Alexandr Wang, a much younger executive who began to exert influence over LeCun’s work.
LeCun had enjoyed more than a decade at Meta, where he was granted significant freedom to explore innovative AI research without the constant pressure to deliver commercially viable products. He described his time there as a “tabula rasa with a carte blanche,” emphasizing that funding was never a concern. However, the landscape shifted dramatically with the arrival of ChatGPT in late 2022, igniting widespread interest in AI chatbots. This prompted Zuckerberg to task LeCun with developing Meta’s own large language model (LLM), named LLaMA, which LeCun agreed to under the condition that it would be open source.
The LLaMA models initially garnered acclaim for their capabilities and open-source nature, significantly impacting the AI research community. However, the release of the latest version, LLaMA 4, in April 2023, was met with harsh criticism and was labeled a failure. LeCun attributed this downfall to pressure from Zuckerberg for expedited development, stating, “We had a lot of new ideas and really cool stuff that they should implement. But they were just going for things that were essentially safe and proved. When you do this, you fall behind.”
The discord extended beyond product timelines. LeCun perceives large language models as a “dead end” for achieving superintelligent AI and advocates for a different architectural approach, known as “world models,” which focuses on understanding the physical world rather than exclusively processing language. While Zuckerberg expressed interest in this research, he opted to launch a separate initiative, Superintelligence Labs, and invested hundreds of millions to attract talent, concentrating primarily on LLMs.
Among Zuckerberg’s high-profile hires was Alexandr Wang, founder of Scale AI, a data annotation firm pivotal for AI model training but not for model creation itself. Meta’s acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Scale AI for $14 billion led to Wang’s transition to Meta, where he assumed leadership of the new lab, putting LeCun in a subordinate position. LeCun publicly acknowledged Wang’s relative inexperience, commenting on the age disparity in their new hierarchy. “The average age of a Facebook engineer at the time was 27,” he noted, emphasizing his own age as a contrast.
However, when the interviewer pointed out that Wang’s age was a stark contrast to LeCun’s extensive experience, LeCun’s discomfort became evident. “Alex isn’t telling me what to do either,” he retorted. “You don’t tell a researcher what to do. You certainly don’t tell a researcher like me what to do.”
Following his exit from Meta, LeCun has embarked on a new venture, launching Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs, which is focused on world model research and aims for a valuation of $3 billion. As executive chairman, he expects to regain the autonomy he once enjoyed at Meta, allowing him to pursue his innovative research agenda without the constraints he faced in his previous role.
LeCun’s departure from Meta underscores the evolving dynamics in the AI sector, as established experts grapple with the rapid advancements and changing priorities within their organizations. As the industry shifts towards more specialized models, the question remains whether LeCun’s vision for AI will find the support it needs to flourish outside the confines of Meta.
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