DeepMind’s David Silver has raised $1.1 billion to build an AI that learns without human data

Indescribable intelligencea British artificial intelligence laboratory that was founded just a few months ago by former DeepMind researcher David Silver $1.1 billion financing at $5.1 billion To join the race for new AI models that can outperform large language models.

According to its newly launched website, Ineffable aims to create a “super learner” capable of discovering knowledge and skills without relying on human data by leveraging reinforcement learning — a technology in which AI systems learn through trial and error rather than studying human-generated examples. This is Silver’s area of ​​expertise.

Silver was a professor at University College London until recently Lead the reinforcement learning team At Google-owned DeepMind, where he spent more than a decade before leaving to found this new venture.

While at DeepMind, Silver co-developed software that beat professional players at chess and the backgammon game Go by learning only from experience, without feeding human strategies or game logs—beating the world’s best computer programs on every game. This was the most prominent Alpha Zero. Likewise, the Unspeakable Intelligence program hopes that the outstanding learner will discover all knowledge from his or her own experience.

A great learner may lack experience, but the company does not lack ambition. “If this succeeds, it will represent a scientific breakthrough of a magnitude comparable to Darwin’s: as his law explained all life, our law will explain and structure all intelligence,” his site claims (including capital letters).

Referring to Indescribable Intelligence as his “life’s work” in a personal note he has since posted on the company blog, Silver also said Wired said That “any money I make from Ineffable will go to high-impact charities that save as many lives as possible.”

It’s unclear how, when and how much money the project will make, but that clearly hasn’t hindered fundraising.

According to Wired, the round was led by Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Index Ventures, Google, Nvidia and others. These include other investors The British Business Bank and Sovereign AIthe UK’s recently launched sovereign venture fund for artificial intelligence.

Fast forward to so-called quintet status — that is, companies valued at more than $5 billion — Ineffable Intelligence joins the club of AI ventures founded by star researchers whose names have attracted seed rounds so large that they have been dubbed Coconut tours (Ironic escalation of the “Seed” round). Just last month, AMI Labs, co-founded by Turing Award winner and former Meta AI scientist Yann LeCun, It raised $1.03 billion at a pre-cash valuation of $3.5 billion.

There may be more companies in this template. Recursive Intelligence, co-founded by Tim Rocktachel, former principal scientist at DeepMind, and based in the UK. It reportedly raised $500 millionwith enough demand to expand that amount to $1 billion.

While Recursive also has ties to the US, these companies signal growing momentum around London as an AI hub. This is thanks in part to DeepMind’s continued presence after its emergence Acquisition by Google In 2014. But it’s not just DeepMind. Jeff Bezos’ Artificial Intelligence Lab, Project Prometheus, is It is said in conversations To secure office space close to Google Center for Artificial Intelligence.

This also translates into a strong alumni network, with several former DeepMind employees reportedly set to join Ineffable’s executive team.