The World Model Race: Labs and Approaches

Beth returned from the Create Conference 2025 to co-host with Andy, kicking off a wide-ranging episode on global AI investments, model development, and the next frontier in computing. They discussed SoftBank’s Nvidia sell-off, Microsoft’s “humanist AI” stance, Yann LeCun’s new company, OpenAI’s upcoming group chat feature, and several major breakthroughs in quantum computing.

Key Points Discussed

SoftBank Exits Nvidia – Masayoshi Son sold SoftBank’s $6B Nvidia stake to fund new OpenAI and Stargate investments. The hosts debated whether this was profit-taking or a strategic reallocation.

Microsoft’s Humanist AI Vision – Mustafa Suleyman announced Microsoft’s commitment to “humanist AI,” while Elon Musk countered that robotic labor is inevitable. Beth compared ownership structures and how control influences AI direction.

Yann LeCun Leaves Meta – Meta’s Chief AI Scientist left to launch a new company focused on world models — spatial intelligence systems designed to understand and interact with 3D environments.

World Model Race – The team discussed Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, Google DeepMind’s Genie models, and Nvidia’s Spatial Intelligence Lab, all aiming to build next-generation embodied AI for robotics.

China’s $1.30 Coding Agent – ByteDance unveiled an AI coding assistant that rivals U.S. developer tools like Cursor, setting records on SWE-bench and handling 256K tokens per query for just $1.30 per month.

Claude Use Case Library – Anthropic launched a searchable /resources/use-cases hub to help users discover practical AI workflows from legal research to financial analysis.

11 Labs’ Iconic Voice Marketplace – 11 Labs released licensed AI recreations of historical and cultural figures like Michael Caine, Maya Angelou, and Amelia Earhart, raising questions about consent, nostalgia, and ethics in digital likeness.

Quantum Simulation Milestone – A European team simulated a 50-qubit logical quantum computer using Nvidia G200 superchips, quadrupling prior benchmarks and advancing hybrid classical-quantum computation.

Continuum’s Quantum Breakthrough – The new Helios machine converts 98 physical qubits into 48 logical ones, improving fault tolerance and paving the way for stable, room-temperature quantum systems.

Infrastructure Bottlenecks – Andy noted that the biggest constraint on AI growth isn’t chips but construction materials like sand and concrete, which are delaying new data centers.

Timestamps & Topics

00:00:00 💡 Intro and SoftBank exits Nvidia

00:04:39 🤖 Microsoft’s “humanist AI” vs. Musk’s robot inevitability

00:06:41 🧠 Yann LeCun leaves Meta to build world models

00:10:13 🌍 Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs and embodied AI

00:21:20 🇨🇳 China’s $1.30 coding agent

00:28:31 💡 Efficient training and model cost debate

00:28:50 🧩 Claude’s new use-case library

00:31:13 🎙️ 11 Labs launches iconic voice marketplace

00:39:56 ⚛️ Quantum computing breakthroughs and Helios machine

00:49:07 ⚙️ Energy, data center, and material constraints

00:51:44 🧍‍♂️ Digital twins preview for next episode

The Daily AI Show Co-Hosts: Beth Lyons and Andy Halliday