One of the most influential researchers in the field of modern artificial intelligence has now become the key figure in a $8 billion deal by AMD betting on “physical AI”.

AMD reported on Monday that it has agreed to acquire San Francisco-based startup World Labs. The company was co-founded in 2024 by Stanford University professor Fei-Fei Li. The valuation of this all-stock transaction is approximately $8.2 billion.

World Labs is developing what is known as a "world model," which is a AI system capable of generating and reconstructing interactive 3D environments based on text, images, and videos. This technology could potentially be used in the future for training robots, simulating factories, and advancing scientific research.

Li Feifei is often referred to as the "godmother of AI". Her most notable achievement is the creation of ImageNet – a large-scale annotated image database. This database has helped to demonstrate that more data can significantly enhance computer vision capabilities. Subsequently, she served as the Chief Scientist for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Google Cloud and became one of the founding co-directors of the Stanford University Center for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

Earlier this month, World Labs released Atlas, a new AI model designed to use a small number of 2D images to predict what a scene would look like from another camera angle. The company compares this approach to how large language models predict the next word in a sentence.

AMD CEO Su Zifeng stated in a press release that this acquisition will enable the chip manufacturer to gain a deeper understanding of the evolution of cutting-edge AI models, thereby helping it to develop the chips and computing systems required to power these models. AMD is one of NVIDIA's largest competitors in the AI chip market.

According to the agreement, Li Feifei will join AMD as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, reporting to Su Zifeng.