Alphabet-C DeepMind's two key scientists are starting their own venture, with the first round of financing potentially reaching up to 200 million euros.

According to informed sources, two scientists from Alphabet-C's artificial intelligence department, Alphabet-C DeepMind, Laurent Sifre and Karl Tuyls, will leave Alphabet-C to start their own venture. They are currently in talks with investors and plan to establish an artificial intelligence startup in Paris.

It is reported that Laurent Sifre has been working as a scientist at DeepMind and is negotiating with his colleague Karl Tuyls and investors to establish a company called Holistic (not the London software company Holistic AI). Insiders say that this startup may focus on building new artificial intelligence models. The team has already discussed a round of financing with potential investors, with the amount possibly exceeding 200 million euros (approximately 220 million US dollars), which is a considerable sum even in the hot field of artificial intelligence.

The two scientists have not yet responded, and DeepMind has declined to comment. An insider revealed that the two have informed Alphabet-C of their resignation.

Laurent Sifre was a co-developer of DeepMind's groundbreaking work on Go research in 2016, which demonstrated for the first time that a computer system could defeat a Go master, sparking international enthusiasm for artificial intelligence. Karl Tuyls has been involved in research on game theory and multi-agent reinforcement learning, a branch of artificial intelligence that explores the interactions between autonomous agents, often through video games.

Laurent Sifre and Karl Tuyls are widely regarded as leaders in the field of AI, and this extraordinary financing negotiation further demonstrates investors' strong interest in this technology. This is particularly true in France, where venture capitalists and business tycoons are pouring funds into AI startups, whether they are affiliated with Paris University or Silicon Valley AI companies.

The AI investment boom is still ongoing. For example, Mistral AI, an AI company established in early 2023, has completed two substantial rounds of financing by the end of the year, with a valuation of around 2 billion US dollars. It is now a competitor of OpenAI, and its CEO has previously worked at DeepMind. Another non-profit AI research laboratory, Kyutai, was established in November with an initial funding of 300 million euros.