Autodesk has invested $200 million in World Labs, artificial intelligence (AI) research company, securing a strategic advisor role in the process.
Currently known for Marble, its ‘spatial visualisation’ model, predominantly used in VFX and games development, the toolset is also applicable to product visualisation as well as creating scalable, physically accurate 3D scenes for simulation and data collection.
Marble can create 3D worlds from a wide variety of input types, and lets users iteratively edit or expand worlds. Nvidia has already demoed the training of its Issac robot by combining its open source robotics reference framework with text-prompt generative models that are photorealistic and simulation-ready in a fraction of the time it would take to traditionally build.
Founded in early 2024 by renowned AI researcher Professor Fei-Fei Li – who has been called ‘the godmother of AI’ – World Labs has seen a recent flurry of investment totalling $1B, with Autodesk joined by AMD, Nvidia, Emerson Collective and Sea, among others.
Autodesk says that its strategic investment follows its view that while large language models (LLMs) have made remarkable progress, real impact in Autodesk’s user fields requires AI that understands space, structure, materials, physics and time. Designing a bridge, a complex part, or an immersive experience demands intelligence that can reason in 3D and support iterative, human-driven ideas.
“There is no shortage of investment flowing into AI today; much of it focused on ever-larger models, centralised platforms, and hyperscale infrastructure. That path will undoubtedly produce important breakthroughs,” said Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost. “Our investment in World Labs represents a different path, focused on solving the hardest problems in designing, building, and operating the physical world, guided by human needs and domain expertise rather than scale alone.”
He added: “When AI can truly understand physical reality, it becomes a powerful partner in how the world is imagined, designed, and built. Our investment in World Labs is a deliberate choice to pursue a more human-centered path for AI.”
The investment will also give World Labs access to 40 years of Autodesk expertise in geometry, simulation and professional workflows. Anagnost concluded that physical is the next great frontier of AI. “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,” he said.
