The round was backed by big names including Nvidia, AMD and Autodesk.

Fei-Fei Li’s AI start-up World Labs has raised $1bn to advance spatial intelligence – effectively, generative AI “world models” capable of interacting with complex virtual worlds.

Last November, World Labs launched its first commercial product called Marble that generates 3D virtual worlds from image or text prompts.

With this new funding, the start-up wants to continue building AI models to “revolutionise storytelling, creativity, robotics [and] scientific discovery”.

The round was backed by big name investors including Nvidia; AMD; Fidelity Management and Research Company; Autodesk; Emerson Collective; and Sea.

The start-up did not disclose its post-funding valuation, however, reports from last month estimated it to end up at $5bn. Autodesk has invested $200m in World Labs as part of the round, and with the funding, has also taken an advisory role in the start-up.

“Autodesk has long helped people think spatially and solve real-world problems and, together, we share a clear purpose – building physical AI that augments human creativity and puts more powerful tools in the hands of designers, builders and creators,” Li said.

Li is often referred to as the ‘godmother of AI’, thanks to her groundbreaking work on ImageNet. Her start-up World Labs came out of stealth in 2024, and was valued at around $1bn after a $230m investment round that included Andreessen Horowitz, Nvidia’s venture arm and Radical Ventures, where she is herself a scientific partner.

World Labs describes itself as a “spatial intelligence company, building frontier models that can perceive, generate, reason and interact with the 3D world”. It describes its AI products as “large world models”.

Li called AI a “civilisational technology” in an interview with Bloomberg late last year. “I believe spatial intelligence is as critical [as] – and complementary to – language intelligence,” she said.

The World Labs co-founder is a professor at the computer science department at Stanford University and has served as director of the university’s AI Lab. She is currently the co-director of the Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute and has previously served as the chief scientist at Google Cloud.

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Fei-Fei Li, 2024. Image: © Steve Jurvetson via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Tito of Macho Nacho Productions takes out his trusty screwdriver and goes to work on a limited edition Zelda Game & Watch from Nintendo that he received in 2020. This portable includes three iconic games: the original Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Link’s Awakening from the Game Boy. It comes with a great collection of features out of the box, including a crisp LCD screen, a nice D-pad, and separate start and select buttons. The battery life is adequate, and it even has a USB-C charging connection, but Tito wants to take this device to the next level.

First, he removes four screws from the back plate, disconnects the battery, and then pulls out the two ribbon cables that link to the LCD. The speaker desolders, giving him some freedom to operate with. The motherboard is then released by removing ten additional screws. Tito connects an ST-Link programmer to the SWDIO, ground, and SWCLK pads as he boots up his PC and launches PowerShell as an administrator. He utilizes Chocolatey to install Python, Pipix, OpenOCD, and G&W Manager from GitHub. The unlock command is executed, and the device displays a blue screen. Everything appears to be in order.

Nintendo Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda – Not Machine Specific

• With a retro look, legendary flourishes, and the power to save Hyrule, the Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda system is a tribute to 35 years of the…
• Included are three Full Legend of Zelda games; The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The adventure of Link, and the Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
• There’s also a version of the Game & Watch classic, Vermin, starring Link, and a playable clock and timer.

Tito removes the original 16MB flash chip, which is a bit of a bottleneck, and heats it with a hot air station before applying flux to the pads. Tin foil and Kapton tape protect the area to prevent the neighbors from becoming too hot, and then it comes off clean. He cleans the pads, inserts a new 64MB chip, and reconnects the cables. G&W Manager flashes some custom firmware onto the device, which actually works for a second before halting at step 13. A retry resolves the issue, and Tito resumes business.

The next step is to create a custom ribbon cable by soldering a couple of capacitors, a resistor, and an LDO regulator on. He inserts a microSD card slot and reduces the alignment posts flat. He aligns the ribbon pins with the CPU pads, connects a wire to a capacitor, and then uses a rotary tool to scrape off the soldermask and reveal the ground plane. With a little wire and some work, the microSD slot is fully operational. Tito next tackles the rear shell mods, removing the D-pad posts, drilling four holes with 3D-printed jigs, and smoothing out the edges with a file to ensure everything is nice and flush.

With all of the mod completed, it’s time to launch his own firmware. He downloads the firmware update binary from RetroGo SD on GitHub, places it on a FAT32 microSD card, and turns the device on to install it. Once completed, he restarts it and enters RetroGo – from there, it’s as simple as adding some ROMs for the Game Boy, NES, SEGA Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and other systems. Super Mario World works well, and Zelda: A Link to the Past is as crisp as ever.

Ubisoft has had a turbulent few years, but its biggest franchises are clearly not going anywhere. In an interview with Variety, CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that multiple Assassin’s Creed titles and two new Far Cry games are currently in development, signaling a renewed focus on the company’s most reliable blockbuster series.

The update arrives during what Ubisoft has described as a major reset. The company has undergone layoffs, canceled projects, and reorganized studios as it tries to stabilize after several difficult years. Against that backdrop, Guillemot’s message was simple. Ubisoft plans to lean heavily on the franchises that consistently attract massive audiences. For Assassin’s Creed, Guillemot said “several titles” are in development, spanning both single-player and multiplayer experiences. The goal is to keep growing a community that already surpassed 30 million players last year. On the Far Cry side, Ubisoft confirmed two promising projects, widely expected to include the next mainline entry and a long-rumored multiplayer spin-off.

A future built around blockbuster franchises

This renewed emphasis ties directly into Ubisoft’s broader restructuring strategy. The company has created new “creative houses” designed to give major franchises more autonomy while improving accountability and production efficiency. One of those units, Vantage Studios, is responsible for Ubisoft’s biggest brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. The idea is to treat these series as long-term ecosystems rather than standalone releases, helping Ubisoft deliver a steadier pipeline of games and content over time.

The shift also reflects lessons learned from the pandemic era. Ubisoft admitted it had launched too many projects and is now scaling back to focus on fewer, bigger bets. For players, that likely means a more predictable future. Instead of scattered experiments, Ubisoft’s roadmap looks increasingly centered on expanding the worlds fans already know.

While Ubisoft did not share release windows or gameplay details, the confirmation alone matters right now. After months of layoffs and uncertainty, fans finally have reassurance that Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry remain core pillars of Ubisoft’s future. Whether that excites or worries players will depend on how Ubisoft balances quantity with quality.

For the past century, facial recognition technology (FRT) has existed largely in the realm of science fiction. From dystopian literature and film to speculative headlines and industry conjecture, FRT has long been portrayed as futuristic, invasive or experimental.

Yet behind the scenes, facial recognition has been quietly maturing, particularly over the past two decades.