人工智能先驱李飞飞正与投资者洽谈，为其初创公司World Labs融资数亿美元，估值约为50亿美元。该估值较公司2024年结束隐身状态时的融资大幅跃升，当时World Labs以10亿美元估值筹集了2.3亿美元。知情人士称，本轮融资预计将为公司资产负债表增加约5亿美元，但交易尚未最终敲定，细节仍可能调整。
World Labs专注于开发能够理解、导航并对三维世界作出决策的人工智能工具，其称之为“大世界模型”。公司于去年年底推出首款产品Marble，可根据图像或文本提示生成三维世界。随着投资者寻求超越大型语言模型的新突破，对世界模型等尚处早期的发展方向兴趣显著上升。作为对比，Yann LeCun的世界模型初创公司AMI Labs正洽谈一轮融资，潜在估值约为35亿美元。
李飞飞因在2006年主导ImageNet项目而闻名，该视觉数据库包含超过1,500万张图像，成为近代人工智能发展的关键基础。World Labs的现有投资方包括Andreessen Horowitz、NEA、Radical Ventures以及英伟达的风险投资部门，其他支持者还包括沙特的Sanabil Investments和新加坡的淡马锡。此次潜在的50亿美元估值反映了资本对下一代人工智能基础模型的持续高预期。
Artificial intelligence pioneer Fei-Fei Li is in talks with investors to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for her startup, World Labs, at a valuation of about $5 billion. This would mark a sharp increase from the company’s 2024 emergence from stealth, when it raised $230 million at a $1 billion valuation. People familiar with the matter said the round could add roughly $500 million to the company’s balance sheet, though the deal has not been finalized and terms may still change.
World Labs is developing AI systems designed to understand, navigate and make decisions about the three-dimensional world, which it calls “large world models.” Late last year, the company launched its first product, Marble, which can generate 3D worlds from image or text prompts. As investors search for breakthroughs beyond large language models, interest has risen sharply in earlier-stage approaches such as world models. By comparison, Yann LeCun’s world-model startup AMI Labs is discussing a funding round that could value it at about $3.5 billion.
Li is best known for leading the ImageNet project in 2006, a visual database of more than 15 million images that became a cornerstone of modern AI development. World Labs’ backers include Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Radical Ventures and Nvidia’s venture arm, along with Saudi Arabia’s Sanabil Investments and Singapore’s Temasek. The potential $5 billion valuation underscores strong investor expectations for the next generation of foundational AI models.