# World Labs is building AI for spatial intelligence

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/world-labs-is-building-ai-for-spatial-intelligence/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Fei-Fei Li](https://realalpha.app/builders/fei-fei-li/) · Fei-Fei Li is a professor of computer science at Stanford and AI pioneer. · Co-founded World Labs, whose Marble product generates persistent, high-fidelity 3D worlds from images, video or text.
- Host: [Andrew Huberman](https://realalpha.app/people/andrew-huberman/) · Host, Huberman Lab
- Show: Huberman Lab
- Episode: [Using AI to Increase Your Intelligence & Enrich Humanity | Dr. Fei-Fei Li](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/), Aug 10, 2026
- Moment: 1:50:07 to 1:54:16 of the episode (4 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/world-labs-is-building-ai-for-spatial-intelligence/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6607

## Quote

> “And we recognize that unlocking **spatial and physical intelligence** is really the next chapter.”
> — [Fei-Fei Li](https://realalpha.app/builders/fei-fei-li/) at [1:50:47](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6647) · Huberman Lab

## Takeaways

1. Li sees spatial intelligence as a frontier beyond language models.
2. World Labs is building a foundation model and beginning to make products.
3. Generated worlds could help train robots and support design work.

## About this segment

Fei-Fei Li says World Labs is developing models that turn text, images or sketches into interactive 3D and 4D worlds. Those environments could support creators, designers and robot training.

From “Using AI to Increase Your Intelligence & Enrich Humanity | Dr. Fei-Fei Li”, Aug 10, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[1:50:12](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6612) I would love to learn more about your startup because you don't pick projects haphazardly. So what is the project? What's the goal? So my startup co-founded with a couple of other co-founders is called World Labs. We co-founded it at the beginning of 2024. It really is, for me, kind of my life's work. You know, we both come from vision and the recognition of there's more beyond language intelligence is what really motivated me to think hard about what's the next chapter of AI frontier.

[1:50:52](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6652) And we recognize that unlocking spatial and physical intelligence is really the next chapter. It's not excluding languages. Of course, the language technology is incredible. It's where we can devote more time to build models or build eventually products that can help unlocking capabilities in spatial intelligence, like generating 3D, 4D worlds that are deeply useful for creators, for robot training, for architecture design, or to enable those interactive environments, whether you're talking about healthcare usage or education usage or robotics usage or industry usage, these capabilities these goals beyond language, per se.

[1:51:50](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6710) And so World Labs was founded based on that premise. We are still a young company. We're very much a model-focused company where we're building this foundation model and we're started by a lot of PhDs. But now we're starting to build products. And so it's still the beginning. It's very exciting. And as a technologist, I feel deep in my heart I'm a builder. You know, maybe it's because also I'm an immigrant.

[1:52:24](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6744) So that rolling your sleeves up and just get in with the young. generation that's just so incredibly smart and just build something from scratch. It's just so exciting. I recall a time not, what, 15, 20 years ago when there were cars driving around, taking images. Still driving around. Still driving around, taking images. But I imagine that there are certainly aerial views as well. But you can imagine little tiny drones, like the type that could fly through a neuron and just kind of look at everything, so to speak, or drones picking up information about every nook and cranny of the fjords in Norway. Has that been done to sort of map the three-dimensional world? First of all, let's not make it sound scary that drones are getting into people's homes and properties. I think that the ability to capture imageries of

[1:53:17](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6797) the world is really rapidly advanced, right? Like our cell phones are incredible sensors. They're not drones, but people take a lot of photos. And of course, our camera technology has improved. What WorldLabs is doing is not just taking real-world images. It's we allow people to imagine what's in their mind's eye. As long as you can type a sentence or show a picture or a sketch of what you imagine, we try to turn that into worlds and environments.

[1:53:51](https://realalpha.app/v/N5AQFYtqx8Q/?t=6831) Why is it useful? Because entertainment industry will use it. Design industry will use it. Robotics industry very much would use it for training environments and all that. So the combination of capturing what's in the real world as well as capturing what's in your imagined world is the new frontier.