Fei-Fei Li, a famous computer scientist known as the “Godmother of AI,” founded a startup called WorldLab. In just four months, it has already been valued at over $1 billion. Financial Times report.
Reuters reported in May that WorldLab wants to use human-like visual data processing techniques to give its AI advanced reasoning capabilities. Research into making its AI human-like is still ongoing, much like ChatGPT is attempting with generative AI.
Lee is best known for his contributions to computer vision, a branch of AI that helps machines interpret and understand visual information. He also led the development of ImageNet, a large-scale visual database used for visual object recognition research. Lee led AI at Google Cloud from 2017 to 2018 and currently advises the White House AI Task Force.
“[World Labs] “One anonymous venture capitalist with knowledge of Lee's work is developing a model to understand the three-dimensional physical world — a model that understands the dimensions of objects, where things are and what they do,” said the anonymous venture capitalist with knowledge of Lee's work. Financial Times.
This could enhance efforts in a variety of fields, including robotics, augmented reality, and virtual reality.
The startup has raised two rounds of funding, most recently about $100 million, and is backed by Andreessen Horowitz and AI fund Radical Ventures, where Lee joined as a partner last year. Lee founded World Lab while on leave from Stanford University, where he is co-director of the university's Institute for Human-Centered AI.
During a TED Talk in April, Lee further explained the research areas his startup will pursue, including algorithms that can realistically extrapolate images and text into three-dimensional environments and act on those predictions, using a concept called “spatial intelligence.” This could boost research in a variety of fields, including robotics, augmented reality, virtual reality, and computer vision. If these capabilities continue to advance as Lee ambitiously plans, they have the potential to transform industries like healthcare and manufacturing.
The World Labs investment reflects a trend of venture capitalists willing to partner with ambitious AI companies, spurred by the unexpected success of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has quickly been valued at more than $80 billion.
