The so-called "godfather of AI" called Elon Musk's xAI a "failure" while also voicing concerns about an AI "big bubble explosion."
Yann LeCun, founder of AMI Labs, made the comments to CNBC while discussing the AI industry. He said that xAI was a failure because "the founding team has left, or was fired."
LeCun went on to say that the result was that Musk was in a very difficult position and would have challenges hiring the top people in AI because of what happened with the previous team.
"So now he has the huge infrastructure which he rents to other people. Because that's the only way that he can recoup the cost," LeCun said. "So, I'm not very positive about the prospects of xAI."
LeCun also expressed concern of a possible AI bubble given the massive investments being made in the industry.
"The prices are going up of those AI services, but the cost of running them is going down, but not nearly fast enough. And so all of those companies are losing money, and basically, the use for most people is funded by the investors. That can't go on for a very long right?" LeCun told the outlet.
LeCun earned the nickname the "godfather of AI" because of his early work in the field. This is not the first time Musk and LeCun have sparred publicly.
In 2024 when Musk wrote on X, "Join xAI if you believe in our mission of understanding the universe, which requires maximally rigorous pursuit of the truth, without regard to popularity or political correctness," LeCun responded with several digs.
He wrote: "Join xAI if you can stand a boss who...claims to want a 'maximally rigorous pursuit of the truth' but spews crazy-ass conspiracy theories on his own social platform."
When another user asked what LeCun had against Musk, LeCun replied: "I like his cars, his rockets, his solar panels, and his satellite network. I very much dislike his vengeful politics, his conspiracy theories, and his hype."
In the same thread, Musk questioned LeCun's assertion that he was more of a scientist than someone who created products.
"What 'science' have you done in the past 5 years?," Musk asked. After LeCun replied he had 80 technical papers published since 2022, Musk retorted: "That's nothing, you're going soft. Try harder!"
