The NERF Breakthrough and Academic Momentum

Fei-Fei Li and Justin Johnson are pioneers in AI. While the world has only recently witnessed a surge in consumer AI, they have long been laying the groundwork for the innovations transforming industries today.

With the recent launch of Marble, the first product from their company World Labs, we are revisiting this conversation to explore the ideas that started it all. World Labs is focused on spatial intelligence, building Large World Models that can perceive, generate, and interact with the 3D world. Marble brings that vision to life, allowing anyone, from individual creators to major platforms, to generate 3D scenes directly from text or image prompts and turn complex 3D creation into a simple, creative process.

In this episode, a16z general partner Martin Casado talks with Fei-Fei and Justin about the journey from early AI winters to the rise of deep learning and multimodal AI. From foundational breakthroughs like ImageNet to the cutting-edge realm of spatial intelligence, they discuss the evolution of the field and what is next for innovation at World Labs.

Timecode:

0:00 – The Next Decade of AI
2:45 – Origins: Backgrounds of the Founders
6:50 – The Rise of Deep Learning & ImageNet
8:00 – Algorithmic Unlocks: Compute, Data, and Supervised Learning
12:00 – From Predictive to Generative AI
16:20 – The Journey to Spatial Intelligence
18:35 – Defining Spatial Intelligence
21:15 – 3D Data, Computer Vision, and Breakthroughs
23:15 – Reconstruction vs. Generation in Computer Vision
24:45 – Spatial Intelligence vs. Language Models
29:00 – Applications: Virtual, Augmented, and Physical Worlds
39:55 – Building World Labs: Team and Vision
41:55 – The North Star: Measuring Success in Spatial Intelligence

Resources:

Learn more about World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai

Learn more about Marble: https://Marble.WorldLabs.ai

Find Fei-Fei on Twitter: https://x.com/drfeifei

Find Justin on Twitter: https://x.com/jcjohnss

Find Martin on Twitter: https://x.com/martin_casado

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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