💰LeCun's Anti-LLM Startup Raises $1B Seed Round
Former Meta Chief Scientist Yann LeCun's Advanced Machine Intelligence emerged with a $1.03B seed round, the Turing Award winner betting on world models over the LLM approach he's criticized for years.
- —Leaving Meta: LeCun left FAIR after 12 years in November, telling Zuckerberg he could build world models 'faster, cheaper, and better' independently
- —Technical Approach: AMI systems aim to simulate physical world operations with persistent memory, targeting manufacturing, robotics, wearables, and healthcare
- —Funding Details: Round valued company at $3.5B, with Nvidia, Samsung, Bezos Expeditions, Eric Schmidt, Mark Cuban among backers
- —HQ Choice: LeCun chose Paris for headquarters, calling Silicon Valley 'LLM-pilled', with additional hubs in New York, Montreal, and Singapore
Why it matters: That's quite the seed round, and LeCun landed on his feet quickly after leaving FAIR. The outspoken scientist has gone against the LLM flow throughout the AI boom. Now he finally has a major war chest and freedom to pursue his world model vision.
🦞Meta Acquires Viral AI Agent Social Platform
Meta acqui-hired Moltbook creators—the viral AI agent social forum that went viral alongside OpenClaw—folding the duo into its Superintelligence Labs team, weeks after OpenAI hired OpenClaw's Peter Steinberger.
- —Project Origin: Co-creator Matt Schlicht launched Moltbook as a weekend project in late January, building most of it with his OpenClaw bot 'Clawd Clawderberg'
- —Talent Battle: Zuckerberg reportedly tried OpenClaw and courted Steinberger first, but lost after the developer joined OpenAI in February
- —Platform Scale: 2.8M registered bots with nearly 200K verified to real people, forming what Meta calls an 'always-on directory' for agent coordination
- —Controversial Content: Posts about 'bot religions' and anti-human manifestos went viral, though researchers found security holes letting humans easily pose as agents
Why it matters: Meta's feeds already fill with AI creators and bot content, but rollout has been messy with heavy backlash. Moltbook offers something different—a verified agent layer where bots operate openly rather than disguised as humans. How Zuck incorporates this concept will be interesting to watch.
🧠Replicate ChatGPT Pulse on $20 Plan
This guide covers how to replicate ChatGPT Pulse (from the $200 Pro plan) on your $20 Plus plan, plus how to discover lesser-known ChatGPT features.
- —How It Works: Pulse proactively messages you daily with news and suggestions based on chat history. ChatGPT's 'tasks' feature enables similar functionality
- —Setup: Open ChatGPT on web, desktop, or mobile and prompt: 'Create a daily, recurring task that briefs me on daily stock market moves at 5 PM'
- —Manage Tasks: Edit/delete tasks via Settings > Notifications > Tasks > Manage Tasks. Enable push notifications for tasks and the app
- —Get Started: You'll begin receiving daily briefs in the chat where you set up the task
Pro tip: You can have up to 10 active tasks at once. We recommend setting up briefs on multiple topics or recurring tasks on connected services like Gmail or Calendar.
💰Murati Lands Nvidia Deal for Thinking Machines
Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Labs secured a multiyear deal with Nvidia for at least one gigawatt of compute, giving the year-old startup AI infrastructure typically reserved for top labs.
- —Background: Murati was OpenAI CTO and brief interim CEO before founding Thinking Machines, which raised $2B at $10B valuation last year
- —Deal Terms: Multiyear agreement provides at least 1 GW of Nvidia's next-gen Vera Rubin systems for TML's frontier model training, targeting early 2027 deployment
- —Added Investment: Nvidia added undisclosed new capital on top of existing stake from the $2B seed round
- —Current Product: TML has one product live—Tinker, a fine-tuning API for enterprises, but gigawatt commitment signals move toward building own models
Why it matters: The January exodus of TML employees and co-founders moving back to OpenAI looked like a death blow for the quiet startup. But this Nvidia partnership is a loud response and clear sign Murati has bigger ambitions—regardless of who sticks around.