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Figure AI , a robotics company working to wreak a general - purpose humanoid automaton into commercial-grade and residential use , declare Tuesdayon X that it is die a batch with OpenAI . The Bay Area - base outfit has alternatively opted to concentre on in - house AI owing to a “ major breakthrough . ” In conversation with TechCrunch subsequently , laminitis and CEO Brett Adcock was tightlipped in term of specifics , but he promised to deliver “ something no one has ever seen on a mechanical man ” in the next 30 day .
OpenAI has been a longtime investor in Figure . The two companiesannounced a deallast class that take aim to “ grow next generation AI models for humanoid robot . ” At the same time , Figure harbinger a $ 675 million hike , valuing the company at $ 2.6 billion . Figure has so far leaven a totality of $ 1.5 billion from investors .
The tidings is a surprisal , given the character that OpenAI plays in the cultural zeitgeist . bare association with the troupe comes with a rapid visibility boost . In August , thetwo companies announcedthat the Figure 02 mechanical man would use OpenAI models for born terminology communication .
The issue with the collaboration , grant to Adcock , is integration . OpenAI is a huge company with a monolithic largeness — and the tidings models to tally . Embodied AI , which brings hokey intelligence to physical aim such as robots , is n’t the ChatGPT Creator ’s primary focal point . Instead , Adcock evoke , the proper answer is build an conclusion - to - end AI simulation focused on power specific hardware .
“ We find that to lick embodied AI at scale leaf in the real world , you have to vertically integrate golem AI , ” Adcock tell apart TechCrunch . “ We ca n’t outsource AI for the same reason we ca n’t outsource our hardware . ”
OpenAI has notably hedge in its wager in the humanoid space . The house is alsoa major backerof the Norse robotics startup 1X. While the legal age of humanoid firms are focused on warehouses and factories , 1X has shift much of its own focus on the home . At Figure ’s Sunnyvale officelast September , Adcock told TechCrunch that the ship’s company is also exploring the use of its systems in a home stage setting .
That is not the priority for Figure , however . After all , automakers have deep pockets than individual when it come to exploring new technology . BMW announcedlast class that it had begun deploy Figure robot at a South Carolina mill .
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OpenAI may also be exploring its own humanoid hardware . On Friday , the company fileda hallmark software with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ( USPTO ) involving humanoids . The text references both “ exploiter - programmable humanoid golem ” and “ humanoid golem having communicating and learning functions for assisting and entertaining people . ”
IP filings are not a warranty of succeeding intersection , but it ’s difficult to push aside these two pieces of intelligence arriving in under a workweek . Figure ’s massive funding round , meanwhile , have allowed it to apace blow up both its hardware and software package teams . The ship’s company late moved into a large Bay Area bureau to fit its rapidly develop faculty .
When it add up to proprietary software , there ’s a lot to be said for the Apple ecosystem approach to mathematical product development . It ’s an good direction to make software that works peculiarly well with one ’s computer hardware system . It is both unmanageable and very resource intensive , however .
Most humanoid firms are make on their own bespoke AI models to differing degrees , though partnership are still prevalent in the industry . In October , Boston Dynamicsannouncedthat it has been work with Toyota Research Institute to bring contrived smartness to the Atlas humanoid golem .
TechCrunch has make out to OpenAI for comment .
