AMD announced today that it's acquiring World Labs, an AI research lab co-founded by the prominent researcher Dr. Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock deal worth approximately $8.2 billion. World Labs launched in 2024 and was valued at $1 billion in a matter of months. The startup launched its first commercial product, a world generation model called Marble that lets users make interactive 3D worlds from a prompt, in 2025.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Li will become EVP and chief scientist at AMD, reporting to AMD CEO Lisa Su, while the World Labs team will "continue to focus on advancing AI model research." AMD also notes t …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 145, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you're new here, welcome, I'm happy to be done traveling for a bit, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)

This week, I flew to San Francisco to try out Meta's new hardware, including the impressive Meta VR Glasses. Along the way, I've been listening to Joanna Stern's interview with Mark Zuckerberg, watching this interview with new Apple CEO John Ternus, revisiting Steve Jobs' "Antennagate" press conference Q&A, playing games on my Steam Deck using the Xreal One Pro glasses, and reading Sarah Wynn-William …

Read the full story at The Verge.