OpenAI, famous for its ChatGPT language model, is branching out into robotics. The company is investing in and partnering with Figure, a California-based humanoid robotics startup. With backing from tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos, Figure just raised $675 million.
This collaboration aims to develop advanced AI models that will give Figure’s robots the power to understand natural language, improving their capabilities. OpenAI’s expertise in large language models (like the one powering ChatGPT) could make Figure’s human-like robots much more intelligent and capable.
Figure’s goal is to create versatile robots to take on unsafe or undesirable jobs, potentially rivaling Tesla’s Optimus project. The startup’s team includes experts from major robotics companies like Boston Dynamics and Google.
While Figure’s robots are still in early stages (as seen in a recent coffee-making demo), the partnership with OpenAI signals a promising future for AI-powered humanoid robots, bringing us closer to machines that can understand and interact with the world in a more natural way.
