On 28 September, AMD announced that it had signed an agreement to buy World Labs. The company is led by AI researcher Fei-Fei Li and works on what it calls spatial intelligence.
In simple terms, this means AI that tries to understand how places, objects and movement fit together. World Labs' product Marble can, for example, create a 3D environment that you can explore from text, images or video. That is a different task from continuing a piece of writing or making a single image.
These models may help with design, simulation and robot training. AMD hopes to learn what hardware and software future AI will need. That is the companies' view, not proof that the technology is finished or easy to use.
The acquisition is not complete. It is expected to close before the end of the year, but first needs regulatory approval.
For the rest of us, the direction is the interesting part: AI is becoming less about words on a screen alone. A next step may be digital spaces where ideas can be explored, tested and changed.