World Models: A Survey

A living, verified survey of world models — every factual claim is checked against primary sources before it ships, and sections still being verified say so.

1. 01What is a world model?

   Definition, cognitive-science roots, and the 2018 revival that named the modern field.

2. 02A taxonomy of world models

   How the survey literature organizes the field, and the six-branch map this site uses.

3. 03Latent prediction: the JEPA family

   LeCun's bet that world models should predict abstract representations, not pixels — I-JEPA to V-JEPA 2-AC.

4. 04Video-generative world models

   Sora's 'world simulator' claim, its verified limits, and Genie's interactive turn.

5. 053D & spatial world modelspartial

   Persistent space instead of fleeting video: World Labs' Marble and the 3DGS generation line.

6. 06Agents & robotics: world models for control

   The Dreamer lineage, and Cosmos 3 — the omnimodal convergence point.

7. 07Game & simulation world models

   Playable neural environments: GameNGen, Muse/WHAM, DIAMOND, Oasis, Matrix-Game — and what they cost to train.

8. 08Driving world models

   GAIA, Vista, and the Waymo–Genie convergence: world models as the simulator for autonomy.

9. 09The debates

   Pixels vs. latents, world models vs. LLMs — the arguments that organize the field.

10. 10Evaluating world models

    Physics-IQ, WorldScore, WorldArena — and why visual realism tells you nothing about physics.

11. 11Open problems

    Compounding errors, sim-to-real, fragmented evaluation — and where a small lab can contribute.

12. 12Companies & labspartial

    Who is building world models, who is funding them, and what actually shipped — with every figure attributed.