Yann Le Cun in Paris at the Vivatech trade show, June 2023. THIBAULT CAMUS / AP
Advanced Machine Intelligence (AMI), the artificial intelligence start-up founded by Yann Le Cun, is a French company headquartered in Paris. Yet the project led by the former chief of AI research at Meta has global ambitions: "We want to be a global company headquartered in Europe," explained Alexandre LeBrun, AMI's chief executive. Le Cun is set to chair its board of directors. As a sign of these international ambitions, LeBrun said, the founders sought a certain "geographical balance" among the investors in the company's first fundraising round of €890 million, announced on Tuesday, March 10, valuing the company at €3 billion.
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Participating in this funding round were European players (Cathay Innovation and Hiro Capital funds, the Dassault and Mulliez groups and Free founder Xavier Niel, who is also a shareholder of Le Monde in an individual capacity), as well as American investors (the Greycroft fund, chipmaker Nvidia and the fund of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos) and Asian backers (the fund of carmaker Toyota and electronics giant Samsung). In an AI sector that is becoming "increasingly bipolar" between the powerhouses of the United States and China, Europe could offer an alternative approach, "like a new Switzerland," LeBrun said with a smile.
