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Yann LeCun said he can do management — but he doesn't like it.Yui Mok - Pool/Getty ImagesYann LeCun left Meta to launch AMI Labs, focusing on open-source world model AI.LeCun said he prefers focusing on innovation over leadership duties.LeCun has criticized the leadership of Alexandr Wang, who was briefly his boss at Meta.Yann LeCun is clear on his life goals — and being a leader is not one of them."I can do management, but I don't like doing it," Meta's former chief AI scientist said in an interview with MIT Technology Review published on Thursday."I kind of hated being a director," he said about his time at Meta's Fundamental AI Research (FAIR), a leading AI research lab he founded. "I am not good at this career management thing. I'm much more visionary and a scientist."He said his "mission in life" was not leadership, but to accelerate technological progress and inspire others to work on what interests them.In November, LeCun announced his departure from Meta, where he had worked for 12 years, and said he would launch his own AI company.His new startup, AMI Labs, focuses on building world models — a type of AI that closely reflects the real world. The Paris-based startup will work on open source solutions and be among the few frontier AI labs that he said are "neither Chinese nor American."LeCun said that he would take on the role of executive chairman, while Alex LeBrun, his former colleague from Meta AI, will be the company's CEO. LeCun will continue teaching at NYU.'No experience with research'In the MIT interview, the AI pioneer said that he did not agree with all the choices Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made, such as letting go the robotics team inside FAIR.Earlier this month, he criticized the leadership of another Meta exec, Alexandr Wang, the former CEO of data labelling startup Scale AI. Meta invested $14.3 billion in the buzzy startup, which included hiring Wang to lead AI progress."There's no experience with research or how you practice research, how you do it. Or what would be attractive or repulsive to a researcher," LeCun said in an interview with the Financial Times.LeCun said that even though the 28-year-old was briefly his boss after Zuckerberg's AI reorg, he wasn't taking orders from Wang."You don't tell a researcher what to do," LeCun said. "You certainly don't tell a researcher like me what to do."He also made similar remarks about being a visionary instead of a leader in the FT interview."I'm pretty good at guessing what type of technology will work or not. But I can't be a CEO," LeCun, 65, said. "I'm both too disorganized for this, and also too old."Read the original article on Business Insider

Sam Altman says OpenAI's API business pulled in more than $1 billion in annual recurring revenue in the past month.Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg—Getty Images/ReutersOpenAI has made more than $1 billion a month from something other than ChatGPT.That revenue comes "just from our API business," Sam Altman said.His comments come as OpenAI looks beyond model subscriptions to help cover soaring compute costs.OpenAI has pulled in a billion-dollar month from something other than ChatGPT.Sam Altman said in a post on X on Thursday that OpenAI added more than $1 billion in annual recurring revenue in the past month "just from our API business.""People think of us mostly as ChatGPT, but the API team is doing amazing work!" the OpenAI CEO wrote.OpenAI's API enables other companies and developers to embed its models into their own products, from internal productivity software to coding tools.Many of Silicon Valley's high-profile startups rely on OpenAI's models as core infrastructure. Perplexity uses OpenAI's models to power parts of its AI search and answer engine. Harvey, one of the fastest-growing legal tech startups, is built on OpenAI's models to assist lawyers with research and drafting.Altman's comments underscore how OpenAI's infrastructure business is emerging as a key growth engine, even as the company faces massive costs for computing power and data centers.Those pressures have pushed OpenAI to look beyond consumer subscriptions.Last week, the company said it is gearing up to test ads inside ChatGPT as it faces about $1.4 trillion in spending commitments over the coming years.It's a notable shift for a company that once treated ads as taboo. Less than two years ago, Altman said advertising was a "last resort.""Ads plus AI is sort of uniquely unsettling to me," Altman said during an event at Harvard University in May 2024. "I kind of think of ads as a last resort for us for a business model."Since then, Altman has struck a more open tone. In June, he said on OpenAI's podcast that he wasn't "totally against" ads, though he stressed it would need to be approached carefully.Earlier this week, OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, raised the idea of "licensing models" that would let the company share in downstream sales if a customer's product succeeds."Let's say in drug discovery, if we licensed our technology, you have a breakthrough. The drug takes off, and we get a licensed portion of all its sales," Friar said in an episode of "The OpenAI Podcast" published Monday.Read the original article on Business Insider

Lululemon is telling its customers to wear skin-toned underwear with its sheer leggings.: Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesLululemon has a fix to its see-through "Get Low" tights problem.The athleisure brand recommends that customers wear skin-toned underwear with the tights.The "Get Low" collection is back online after sales were paused for a week because of customer feedback.Lululemon is telling customers who buy their see-through leggings to cover up.In a statement to Business Insider on Thursday, Lululemon said that it had temporarily paused online sales of its "Get Low" collection in North America last week to "review early guest feedback and insights."It then updated its product information to incorporate new guidance on fit, sizing, and features, and the collection is now back online, the statement said.In the fit and sizing section of the product listing, the athleisure company recommends pairing the leggings with "skin-tone, seamless underwear," per checks of the website by Business Insider.It also advises customers to size up the leggings to "experience this tight's best performance during your workout."Several customer reviews on the "Get Low" tights listing talk about how they are not squat-proof and are see-through in the glute area. They retail for $108, are high-rise, and free of the front seam problem that's plagued Lululemon in the past.Lululemon's statement comes after its founder, Chip Wilson, slammed the company's board for the "Get Low" tights on Wednesday, calling it a "total operational failure.""It is clear that persistent failures like this are born out of this Board's lack of experience in creative businesses, disinterest in product development and quality, and focus on short-term, self-interested priorities," Wilson said in a LinkedIn post.Wilson left the company's board in 2015 and has since criticized the leadership on multiple occasions.Lululemon has faced backlash in the past for selling see-through tights.In 2013, Lululemon pulled back 17% of all its pants for being too sheer, and blamed the manufacturing error on an incomplete testing protocol.Lululemon's stock price reacted favorably to the collection going back online. It rose about 2.5% on Thursday. However, it's down almost 50% in the past year.Read the original article on Business Insider

Amazon CEO Andy JassyMichael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesAmazon plans to lay off thousands of corporate employees in coming days.This second major round of Amazon layoffs since October would bring the total to about 30,000 jobs.Amazon is trying to streamline operations and reset its culture.Amazon is planning to eliminate thousands of corporate employees, with cuts expected to begin as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter.The reductions would mark the company's second wave of mass layoffs since October, when Amazon cut about 14,000 jobs. Two of the people said the company is expected to eliminate a similar number of roles in the coming round, bringing total job cuts to almost 30,000.The latest cuts underscore Amazon's continued efforts to streamline operations and reset its culture.Amazon first attributed the October job cuts to changes brought on by AI. But CEO Andy Jassy later said the layoffs were instead tied to cultural fit, not cost savings or AI.Amazon employs more than 1.5 million people globally, though its corporate workforce makes up a relatively small share, at about 350,000.An Amazon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.Reuters earlier reported this latest round of cuts could come as early as next week.Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at ekim@businessinsider.com or Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 650-942-3061. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.Read the original article on Business Insider

(L-R) Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in "The Housemaid."Lionsgate"The Housemaid" was a surprise hit at the global box office, earning over $200 million on a $35 million budget.Producer Todd Lieberman explained how the movie became an unlikely success story.A sequel, "The Housemaid's Secret," is already in the works.Christmastime is typically filled with presents at the box office, and 2025 had a sack full of them.James Cameron's big-budget juggernaut "Avatar: Fire & Ash" turned out to be another billion-dollar earner, while the A24 drama "Marty Supreme" found its audience thanks to Timothée Chalamet's hip marketing gimmicks.But while the cultural conversation was occupied by blockbuster blue people and a ping-pong phenom, one R-rated thriller was slowly gaining buzz.What "The Housemaid" lacked in eye-popping visuals and critical cachet it made up for in star power and a racy storyline. Made for just $35 million — a budget nowhere near that of "Avatar" or "Marty Supreme" — "The Housemaid" is adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name and directed by Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids," "A Simple Favor"). It stars Sydney Sweeney as the titular young housemaid with a troubled past, who's hired by Nina (Amanda Seyfried), an eccentric housewife who, along with her husband (Brandon Sklenar), have some dark secrets of their own.The first indication the movie was becoming an unlikely success story was its surprising international performance, earning over $100 million overseas by the first weekend in January. The movie hit its stride this past weekend, crossing the $100 million milestone domestically, giving the Lionsgate thriller a remarkable worldwide total of over $240 million. It's now the biggest hit of Sweeney's career and a bona fide sleeper hit. For "The Housemaid" producer Todd Lieberman, the movie's success was hardly a surprise. From producing past overperformers like the 2010 Oscar-winning boxing drama "The Fighter" to 2017's hit coming-of-age tale "Wonder," he has an eye for modest-budget material that will draw in audiences."Having a sleeper hit is fun because you know it's not a sleeper, but everyone else thinks it is," Lieberman told Business Insider. Below, Lieberman explains how "The Housemaid" became the latest Hollywood success story.Finding a book before it blows up and optioning it first was keyAmanda Seyfried in "The Housemaid."Daniel McFadden/LionsgateAfter spending 20 years alongside David Hoberman as the owners of Mandeville Films — whose highlights include the 2009 Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock rom-com "The Proposal" and Disney's 2017 live-action "Beauty and the Beast" — Lieberman went out on his own, launching the production company Hidden Pictures in 2022. One of the first projects he went courting was adapting Frieda McFadden's novel "The Housemaid.""I read the book, and I just fell in love with it," Lieberman said, giving credit to his VP of development, Carly Elter, for passing him the novel. "I didn't see the twist. I felt this is exactly what we're looking for."After learning a major studio was also looking to acquire the book rights, Lieberman brought in Lionsgate, the company's financial partner, for some extra muscle. Eventually, they were able to nab not just the rights to "The Housemaid" but the other two books in McFadden's series, "The Housemaid's Secret" and "The Housemaid Is Watching."Around the time that Hidden Pictures hired Rebecca Sonnenshine ("The Boys") to write the script, "The Housemaid" began having a surge in book sales."It was taking a trajectory like what we had experienced with 'Wonder,'" Lieberman said, referring to the movie he produced starring Jacob…