The company plans to coexist rather than compete with these companies, developing technology that robot makers can integrate into their own systems. It's unclear whether OpenAI plans to develop robotics hardware, which it struggled with in the past. The company's renewed focus on robotics may overlap with companies it hopes to do business with, such as Covariant, which was started by former OpenAI robotics team members.
Key takeaways:
- OpenAI is relaunching its previously abandoned robotics team and is currently hiring research engineers to rebuild the team.
- Over the past year, OpenAI’s in-house startup fund has invested in several companies trying to develop humanoid robots, including Figure AI, 1X Technologies, and Physical Intelligence.
- OpenAI intends to coexist rather than compete against such companies, building technology that the robot makers will integrate into their own systems.
- It's unclear whether OpenAI plans to develop robotics hardware, which it struggled to do several years ago, and its ambitions have recently been marked by some turbulence including high-level safety team departures and an accusation from actress Scarlett Johansson.