“We are where ChatGPT was five years ago,” says European 3D AI foundation model startup boss

One of Europe’s top AI researchers, who is heading up a 3D AI foundation model startup, says that 3D AI models are “kind of where ChatGPT for language was five years ago”. 

Matthias Niessner, the CEO and co-founder of SpAItial, took a leave of absence from leading the visual computing and AI lab at the Technical University of Munich to launch the Munich and London-based startup SpAItial, which last year landed a $13m seed round. 

The funding round is high by European standards for a seed round, but small in comparison to the billions of dollars being raised by US large language model firms. 

Speaking on the Tech.eu podcast, Niessner, whose research helped launch UK AI startup Synthesia, discusses SpAItial, getting hold of compute power, the potential of 3D AI models and use cases, the future of AI more broadly, and European sovereignty. 

On raising funds, Niessner said: "Raising money is still surprisingly easy, actually. There is a lot of money right now. And the reason, I think, is that the opportunity of these models is so massive. You train them once, and they just train so incredibly well." 

He said investors were also enticed by the fact that AI model builders can build with relatively small teams, taking advantage of using AI coding agents. 

He said: “We also expect to raise a new round this year. We feel there has to be a healthy balance. We need a little bit more for scaling up the models. But we are probably not going to raise billions right away, because we think this is yet not justified, but it’s going to come step by step.” 

Niessner believes that AI models, which create 3D worlds from text and image inputs, have a big market potential.

He says use cases span everything from video games to robotics to use in the construction and housing industries.

SpAItial has already developed its first 3D AI model and will look for licencing partners who will decide how they will leverage the models. 

He says: “We are kind of like where ChatGPT was for language five years ago."