Other notable high-profile plays include World Labs’ $200 million investment from Autodesk. This groundbreaking collaboration is focused on bringing the most powerful AI-based technology to 3D workflows. This collaboration, which is still in its infancy, seeks to explore how World Labs’ innovative models can complement Autodesk’s renowned design tools. The new partnership will start by looking at use cases from the media and entertainment industries. As they make their partnership official, they’re still hashing out the specific shape of their collaboration.
As chief scientist at Autodesk, Daron Green, made the exciting joint venture announcement. He announced the good news at a TechCrunch Disrupt event in Boston, Massachusetts on June 23, 2026. He underscored World Labs’ AI systems and demonstrated how Autodesk’s tools can be extremely effective counterparts. These AI systems have been purpose built to generate and interpret dynamic immersive 3D worlds.
World Labs has launched its first world model product, Marble, this past November. Marble allows users to create editable and downloadable 3D environments, a feature that aligns well with Autodesk’s mission to enhance spatial thinking and problem-solving capabilities.
Dr. Fei-Fei Li, a co-founder of World Labs, shared her thoughts on the significance of AI’s comprehension of intricate surroundings. She stated that “If AI is to be truly useful, it must understand worlds, not just words.” This first pillar of the partnership, to develop “physical AI” that enhances human ingenuity, is an exciting crystallization of that idea.
This partnership between World Labs and Autodesk will dive into these possibilities and more. Green remarked, “You could anticipate us consuming their models or them consuming our models in different settings.” This reciprocal exchange of models emphasizes the collaborative spirit of their work.
Green explained the technical intersections of their partnership. He shared how Autodesk’s current tools and platforms could be enhanced and strengthened by the models developed through World Labs. He noted that customers would need to be able to export an asset created on Autodesk’s platform. They would then be able to submit it within a thematic framework established under one of World Labs’ narrative prompts. This form of engagement has the potential to unlock more vibrant and adaptive 3D spaces.
Further elaborating on the concept of world models, Green described them as “a characterization of an animal in the world that’s responding to physical constraints like time and terrain.” Finally, he suggested that this knowledge would significantly improve users’ ability to animate characters in these types of engaging spaces.
The two companies are essentially building the infrastructure for the partnership. Data sharing is not part of their existing MOU. This decision reflects an intelligent and broader approach. Both organizations are currently working closely to capitalize on opportunities to combine their technologies while maintaining user data privacy and intellectual property.