Meta’s Chief AI Scientist, Yann LeCun, has announced his departure from the company to establish a new startup dedicated to advancing next-generation machine intelligence.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, LeCun confirmed long-circulating reports about his exit, saying, “As many of you have heard through rumors or recent media articles, I am planning to leave Meta after 12 years.”

He explained that his new venture will continue the Advanced Machine Intelligence, AMI, research agenda he has developed over the years alongside fellow researchers.

According to the 65-year-old French AI pioneer, the company will focus on building systems capable of understanding the physical world, reasoning, and planning, capabilities he believes are necessary to unlock the ‘next major revolution in AI.’

Such progress, he noted, could lead to highly adaptable robots and intelligent machines able to operate beyond pre-programmed instructions.

LeCun also revealed that Meta will collaborate with the new startup, maintaining a working partnership despite his departure.

During his 12-year stint at Meta, LeCun led the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research, FAIR, lab and played a central role in shaping the company’s AI strategy.

His exit follows a major reorganisation within Meta’s AI division, where CEO Mark Zuckerberg has intensified efforts to push toward what he calls superintelligence.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg hired Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang to lead a new unit known as Superintelligence Labs.

As part of the restructuring, LeCun began reporting to Wang, a shift widely seen as a significant change in Meta’s AI leadership hierarchy.