Fei-Fei Li, widely recognized as the “godmother of AI,” has launched a new venture that’s making waves in the tech world. According to the Financial Times, her startup, World Labs, has achieved a valuation of over $1 billion in just four months since its inception. Earlier, Artificialintelligencepedia.com reported in May that through her newly funded startup, Li aims to equip algorithms with the ability to comprehend and navigate three-dimensional environments, a critical step towards achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
World Labs aims to revolutionize AI by enabling advanced reasoning through human-like processing of visual data, as reported by Reuters in May. The company’s research focuses on making AI more human-like in its understanding and interpretation of the visual world, similar to how ChatGPT has transformed text-based AI.
Li, renowned for her groundbreaking work in computer vision and the creation of ImageNet, brings a wealth of experience to this new venture. Her background includes a stint as the head of AI at Google Cloud and a current advisory role on the White House AI task force.
An anonymous venture capitalist familiar with Li’s work told the Financial Times, “World Labs is developing a model that understands the three-dimensional physical world; essentially the dimensions of objects, where things are and what they do.” This ambitious project has already attracted significant investment, with two funding rounds totaling approximately $100 million. Notable backers include Andreessen Horowitz and Radical Ventures, an AI fund where Li is a partner.
Li founded World Labs while on partial leave from Stanford University, where she co-directs the Human-Centered AI Institute. In a recent TED Talk, she elaborated on the concept of “spatial intelligence,” which forms the core of her startup’s research. This technology could have far-reaching implications for fields such as robotics, augmented reality, virtual reality, and computer vision, with potential applications in healthcare and manufacturing.
The rapid success of World Labs aligns with a broader trend in the venture capital world, where investors are eagerly backing ambitious AI projects. This surge in interest was largely sparked by the unexpected success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which quickly achieved a valuation exceeding $80 billion.
As World Labs continues to develop its groundbreaking technology, the AI community watches with keen interest, anticipating the potential transformative impact on various industries and the future of artificial intelligence itself.
