Yann LeCun, former AI chief at Meta, has raised over $1 billion for a new venture that aims to develop alternative AI models, potentially competing with existing large language models like ChatGPT. The funding will be used to build "world models" that understand the physical world, which some outlets describe as a contrarian bet against the current AI industry approach. The exact details and goals of the venture are not entirely clear, but it appears to involve a significant investment in a new direction for AI development.