Hajra Naz
Yann LeCun, Meta’s former chief AI scientist and one of the “godfathers of AI,” has openly criticized Meta’s current AI strategy. He specifically targeted the company’s newest AI chief, 29-year-old billionaire Alexander Wang, calling him “young” and “inexperienced.”
LeCun told the Financial Times that Wang lacks practical research experience. “He has no experience with research or how you practice research, how you do it. Or what would be attractive or repulsive to a researcher,” LeCun said.
Alexander Wang: Meta’s New AI Chief
Alexander Wang, co-founder of Scale AI, joined Meta as its Chief AI Officer in 2025, following the company’s acquisition of a 49% stake in his startup. Wang now leads TBD Labs, Meta’s new AI research unit tasked with developing next-generation AI models.
His hiring came during an intense AI talent war, with Meta reportedly offering $100 million in signing bonuses to lure top researchers from competitors like OpenAI. The company aims to compete in the multibillion-dollar AI race with the most advanced large language models (LLMs).
Concerns Over Staff Exodus
LeCun expressed concern that Meta’s current leadership could trigger a mass departure of talent. He noted that CEO Mark Zuckerberg “basically lost confidence in everyone who was involved” after accusations surfaced that Meta had manipulated benchmarks to make its Llama 4 model appear stronger.
“A lot of people have left, and a lot of people who haven’t yet left will leave,” LeCun warned.
He criticized Meta for focusing on “safe and proven” projects instead of pursuing bold, innovative ideas. “When you do this, you fall behind,” he said.
Read More: The AI Leadership Race 2025-2027: Which Company Will Dominate?
LLMs Are a ‘Dead End’ for Superintelligence
When asked about Meta’s aggressive AI hiring, LeCun said, “The future will say whether that was a good idea or not.” However, he cautioned that large language models (LLMs) are “basically a dead end when it comes to superintelligence.”
LeCun added, “I’m sure there are people at Meta, including perhaps Alex, who would like me not to tell the world that.”
LeCun’s New Focus: World Models
After leaving Meta in November, LeCun founded Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs, focusing on “world models.” These AI systems learn from videos, physical data, and language, offering more holistic reasoning than LLMs.
Health tech startup Nabla, which partnered with LeCun company in December, noted that LLMs face structural limitations such as hallucinations, non-deterministic reasoning, and restricted handling of continuous multimodal data—challenges that hinder autonomous decision-making.
Meta’s Response
CNBC reached out to Meta for comment, but the company had not responded at the time of publication.
