'Godmother Of AI' Fei-Fei Li gets a 'new job'; to join AMD in $8.2 billion deal

AMD has finalized a $8.2 billion deal to acquire World Labs, an AI model and research lab spearheaded by Fei-Fei Li, widely recognized as the "Godmother of AI." The agreement, an all-stock transaction, is set to close by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.

Fei-Fei Li will assume the role of executive vice president and chief scientist at AMD, working closely with CEO Lisa Su. Her expertise in developing advanced AI models will bolster AMD's capabilities in creating AI hardware, software, and systems tailored to emerging models and applications.

AMD CEO Lisa Su emphasized the importance of understanding the evolving nature of AI workloads, stating, "Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving." She believes that Fei-Fei Li and the World Labs team will provide invaluable insights to guide AMD's technology roadmaps.

Fei-Fei Li expressed her enthusiasm about joining AMD, saying, "I am thrilled to bring my team's research leadership and model expertise to AMD. Together, we can accelerate our research and shape the infrastructure needed for the next era of AI." The acquisition of World Labs is expected to help AMD narrow the gap with its primary competitor, Nvidia, particularly as AMD seeks to develop more advanced AI infrastructure.