François Chollet, an influential AI researcher, has launched a new startup that aims to build frontier AI systems with novel designs.

The beginning, GOODwill include an AI research and science lab, and aim to “develop and operate” AGI. AGI, which stands for “artificial general intelligence,” generally refers to AI that can perform any task a human can perform. This is a goal post for many AI companies, including OpenAI.

“We are betting on a different path to build AI capable of true invention, adaptation, and innovation,” Chollet wrote in a X series of posts. “We believe that we have a small but real chance to achieve a breakthrough – to create AI that can learn even as efficiently as humans, and that can continue to improve over time without seeing bottlenecks.”

Ndea plans to use a technique called program synthesis, along with other technical methods, to unlock AGI. Chollet believes that program synthesis, which allows AI to generalize problems that have not been seen before from only a few examples, will help overcome the most intractable problems in AI research.

Program synthesis is traditionally computing-intensive. But Chollet believes that this limitation can be overcome – and that overcoming it will help speed up scientific progress.

“(W) are not alone in recognizing the potential of program synthesis – this is a technique that every frontier AI lab is now beginning to explore,” reads a blog post on Ndea’s website. “We are on the cusp of a pivotal moment in the history of science and the world deserves every possible direct, unique attempt to create AGI.”

Ndea, which Chollet co-founded with Zapier co-founder and head of AI Mike Knoop, did not disclose whether it has raised any capital from outside investors. But the company is now hiring for remote research positions, suggesting there is at least some financial backing.

Knoop says he is leaving his day job at Zapier to focus on Ndea, but will remain a member of Zapier’s board.

“We are assembling the top program synthesis team in the world,” Knoop SAYS in a post on X. “Our first focus is on deep learning-guided program synthesis to enable AGI to invent, adapt, and innovate … But even more exciting is the opportunity to metaphorically time travel to in the future: learning, inventing, and discovering things that don’t happen organically for decades or even centuries.”

Chollet, who recently Cebu launched a nonprofit with Knoop to create benchmarks for AGI, is the latest high-profile AI researcher to leave big tech to found an independent AI lab. Perhaps best known as the creator of Keras, a high-level, open-source API that can be used to build AI models and tackle machine learning tasks, Chollet Office has partnered in November that he was leaving Google after nearly a decade there.

Ilya Sutskever, the former chief scientist and partner of OpenAI, last year was built Safe Superintelligence, an AI lab that has raised over $1 billion in capital from investors including Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz. Elsewhere, longtime Google AI researcher and Stanford academic Fei-Fei Li is on the way Labs of the Worlda company that develops AI systems that can create video game-like 3D simulations.