Semiconductor company AMD said Monday it has agreed to acquire World Labs, a physical AI model company, for $8.2 billion in stock… Why it matters: It gives AMD talent — and a foundational model — to battle its much larger rival…
— from a story by Lucinda Shen on Axios.com, September 28, 2026.
I would be perfectly willing to battle a much larger rival, if someone gave me $8.2 billion in stock. Just call me “David” and I will gladly go up against any Goliath that comes along. With $8.2 billion, I’m quite certain I could come up with one hell of a high-tech slingshot.
Watch out, Jensen Huang!
Obviously, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) feels the same way — that they’re ready to battle a much larger rival. That rival being chipmaker and AI developer Nvidia. But AMD is paying out $8.2 billion to battle their rival.
Not something I would ever do. You would have to pay me to battle a rival.
I guess that’s why I’m sitting here writing humor columns, and AMD and World Labs are preparing to go head-to-head with Nvidia.
The winner — even before the battle really gets started — appears to be Stanford professor and tech entrepreneur Fei-Fei Li, “the Godmother of AI”, and the person behind World Labs, the company soon to be purchased in exchange for a very large amount of stock.
Ms. Li doesn’t refer to herself as “the Godmother of AI”, which is understandable. Because when you really think about it, that’s a weird metaphor, based on what little I know about the “Godmother” role in society.
“The Mother of AI” makes a certain kind of sense. But “Godmother” implies that AI went through a christening ceremony. I’m trying to imagine a Large Language Model getting baptized.
In what type of church would that take place?
According to her 2015 TED Talk, Ms. Li is indeed a mother (as I suspected) and has a son named Leo. She turned 50 this year, and her zodiac sign is Cancer. (For those of you keeping tabs.) I’ve not been able to discover her height and weight, but she looks fit and trim in the photos I’ve seen.
Is her height and weight important? Given that she’s apparently going up against Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia?
A guy who regularly appears wearing a black leather jacket?
Another weird thing about this battle between rivals. (Assuming it’s actually a battle and not some fake World Wrestling Federation contest where nobody really gets hurt.) Reportedly, Nvidia was one of the original investors in Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs.
Is she biting the chip that feeds her?
In her 2015 TED Talk video, Ms. Li notes that any three-year-old, looking at a photo, can tell the difference between a lion and a stuffed animal that looks like a lion. But in 2015, even advanced computers were having trouble with that same task. Seems like a lot of progress has been made since then, in terms of what AI can ‘recognize’, and much of the credit goes to Ms. Li and her team.
Not that I especially want to be ‘recognized’ by a computer, unless I give it specific permission to recognize me. But we’re already well beyond the point of giving permission. Obviously.
I wonder if World Labs and AMD — by joining forces — can defeat Nvidia with its $200 billion in revenues last year. We can imagine the fancy armor this Goliath is wearing.
Here’s the CEO of AMD: Dr. Lisa Su.
Are we noticing that these leading digital authorities appear to have Asian backgrounds?
I’m noticing it.
Is AI noticing it?
Maybe that’s why I’m sitting here, trying to amuse myself writing columns, instead of becoming a billionaire. Wrong family background.
It’s always convenient to have your parents to blame.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.