AI Moves Into The Physical World

Looking for OpenAI from the hardware industry.

Hi, shall we talk about robots?

In recent months, we've increasingly seen the focus expand from conventional AI to LLM-powered robots. We already have Optimus from Elon Musk, some enthusiasts build mechanical arms powered by GPT-4, and OpenAI has been investing in robotics startups. So it's worth a look.

And to make our conversation more practical, I propose to discuss this topic in the context of investments and specific products.

Who knows, maybe we can find a “hardware OpenAI”?

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AI Have to Tear Beyond Your Computer

I often encounter the view that “all this newfangled AI like ChatGPT” is not that important on a global scale. People justify this position by saying that automation doesn't affect many professions. And that makes sense: not everyone is a creator, designer, marketer, or writer whose life is built around computers (weird, right?).

And it's a whole other thing to integrate models into physical objects and bodies. That's another level that deserves its own attention.

After all, how can AI enslave us if we don't create a physical shell for it?

Sharing is caring! Refer someone who started a learning Journey in AI!

The first days of November gave us two occasions to discuss AI's transition from the virtual to the physical world. Although they may seem completely unrelated at first glance, these events provide the same food for thought.

GPT-4o Can Now Clean Your Table With Robotic Arms

Last week, a pair of students showed how GPT-4o can be used as the “brain” for robotic arms. Jannik Grothusen and Kaspar Janssen created a visual language model for human-robot interaction (HRI) and, in four days, taught the robot to find dirt and clean it. The total cost of the project was only $120 (!), and the robot's movements were taught through 100 demonstrations.

On the one hand, this news may seem nothing special: in 2024, it's hard to surprise anyone with a robotic arm. What's far more important, however, is the labor and cost. As Grothusen noted, “Open source is truly democratizing the field of robotics.”

The following event shows how far this can take us.

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Physical Intelligence Secures $400M from Jeff Bezos & OpenAI

Two days after news broke about robotic arms controlled by GPT-4o, the startup Physical Intelligence raised $400M for a closely related project. This company is developing pi-zero, a universal software to automate any robot.

The founders said their software is closer to GPT-1, the first model published for OpenAI chatbots, than to the more advanced “brain systems” underlying ChatGPT. But that could change as progress is made. Physical Intelligence is currently developing its own datasets to train its model.

This news is significant for several reasons.

First, this is a case where the big round was raised by a robotics company rather than the AI startup developing a search engine, video generator, or something similar. Second, a company founded less than a year ago is now valued at $2.4B. Third, Physical Intelligence's investors include not only VC firms but also OpenAI, which is pretty careful with its investments.

In addition to OpenAI, by the way, Jeff Bezos also participated in the round.

So, are we at the beginning of a new investment trend and a great new opportunity for startups? Probably. Let's dig a little deeper and see who is contributing to the robotization of our society with AI right now.

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And while everything is leading to robots becoming “the next big thing,” things are not going well for consumer AI gadgets. Two of the hottest devices in this field, by Rabbit and Humane, have failed. We covered them here:

Rabbit R1, AI Pin, and Apple Vision Pro vs Your Smartphone

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Physical AI As a New Big Opportunity

Move on to the search for “OpenAI from the world of robotics.” We looked through the portfolios of several large VC firms and IT companies, checked the news for the last year, and identified several projects (besides Physical Intelligence) with the most significant growth indicators. These are the startups that claim to be making a fundamental technological shift. Here's what we know about them.