Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings is laying the groundwork for what many see as the next frontier of artificial intelligence by investing in “world models” that simulate the physical environment, according to its head of 3D generation and world modelling.
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China’s most valuable tech conglomerate joins a fast-growing cohort that includes Google DeepMind and Elon Musk’s xAI in exploring “spatial intelligence”, which some experts have described as “AI’s next great frontier”.
On Wednesday, AI pioneer Li Fei-Fei’s new spatial intelligence start-up, World Labs, launched its first commercial world-model product, Marble.
World models went beyond the “language-centric” intelligence of large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DeepSeek’s R1 to offer “true visual and spatial intelligence”, said Guo Chunchao, a principal research scientist of Tencent who is the head of 3D Generation and World Modelling at its model development team, Hunyuan.
By enabling models to understand 3D geometry and predict physical interactions, developers can train AI agents and robots capable of navigating real-world settings.
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“World models allow agents to learn complex tasks efficiently and safely within their own simulations, avoiding risky real-world trial and error,” said Guo, who is scheduled to give the keynote speech at the SIGGRAPH Asia conference in Hong Kong in December..