François Chollet Launches Ndea to Develop Artificial General Intelligence

Renowned AI researcher François Chollet has announced the launch of Ndea, a new AI research and science lab dedicated to advancing artificial general intelligence (AGI) through innovative techniques like program synthesis.

Chollet, best known as the creator of Keras, an open-source API for building AI models and machine learning tasks, is embarking on this ambitious venture alongside Zapier co-founder Mike Knoop. Ndea’s mission is to create AI systems capable of true invention, adaptation, and innovation, pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve.

Ndea’s Vision and Approach

Ndea seeks to address the challenges of developing AGI, a form of AI that can perform any task a human can. According to Chollet:

• The lab will focus on program synthesis, a method enabling AI to generalize problems it hasn’t encountered before using limited examples.

• The team believes program synthesis can overcome bottlenecks in AI learning, accelerating scientific progress.

Despite its computational demands, Chollet is confident the limitations of program synthesis can be mitigated. In a statement on Ndea’s website, Chollet emphasized:

“We are at the crest of a pivotal moment in scientific history and the world deserves every possible direct, unique attempt to build AGI.”

Leadership and Team

Ndea’s leadership includes Chollet and Knoop, who is stepping away from his day-to-day role at Zapier to focus on the startup but will remain on the board. The lab is actively recruiting top talent in program synthesis, with Knoop describing the effort as:

“A chance to metaphorically time-travel into the future: learn, invent, and discover things that would not organically happen for decades or even centuries.”

Ndea has not disclosed external funding but appears to have sufficient financial backing to hire for remote research roles.

A Growing Trend Among AI Researchers

Chollet’s move follows a trend of prominent AI researchers leaving established tech companies to pursue independent ventures:

• Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s former chief scientist, founded Safe Superintelligence, an AI lab backed by over $1 billion in funding.

• Fei-Fei Li, a Google AI researcher and Stanford academic, leads World Labs, which focuses on AI-generated 3D simulations.

Chollet himself spent nearly a decade at Google before departing in late 2023. Alongside Ndea, he recently co-founded a nonprofit with Knoop to establish benchmarks for evaluating AGI.

Broader Implications

The establishment of Ndea reflects the growing momentum behind AGI development. By exploring novel approaches such as program synthesis, Ndea aims to contribute to breakthroughs that could reshape the AI landscape.

• For AI innovation: Ndea’s focus on AGI highlights the shift from narrow AI systems, designed to perform specific tasks, to more ambitious efforts aimed at mimicking human-like adaptability, creativity, and problem-solving capabilities.

• For the industry: The trend of high-profile researchers founding independent labs signals a diversification of approaches to tackling AI’s most complex challenges.

What This Means

Ndea’s formation underscores a pivotal moment in AI development, with researchers breaking new ground in AGI. The lab’s innovative approach and top-tier talent aim to advance the field significantly, offering a glimpse into the future of AI capabilities.

If successful, Ndea could accelerate the timeline for AGI breakthroughs, paving the way for transformative applications across industries. However, the ambitious goals also highlight the immense challenges of creating AI systems that match human intelligence, raising questions about ethical considerations, global collaboration, and the societal impact of AGI deployment.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.