A renewed give attention to robots would recommend that OpenAI believes reaching synthetic common intelligence (AGI)—AI that exceeds human intelligence—could require growing algorithms which are able to interacting with the bodily world.
OpenAI did notable robotics analysis in its early years, together with growing an algorithm able to fixing a Rubik’s dice utilizing a humanlike hand in 2019. The corporate shuttered its robotics effort in 2021, nevertheless, to give attention to algorithms together with the big language fashions which have pushed latest breakthroughs reminiscent of ChatGPT. OpenAI restarted work on robots final 12 months, and The Info reported in December 2024 that the corporate was contemplating growing its personal humanoid robots.
Stefanie Tellex, a roboticist at Brown College, says that constructing simpler robots will contain designing and coaching AI fashions able to “processing high-frame-rate, high-dimensional perceptual enter, and producing high-frame-rate, high-dimensional bodily outputs”—which means fashions that may see and act with excessive constancy. Tellex shouldn’t be aware of OpenAI’s plans particularly, nevertheless.
Regardless of already having industry-leading fashions for dialog, reasoning, coding, and picture and video era, OpenAI will probably be racing a collection of sturdy rivals because it seeks to develop the algorithms for extra succesful humanoid robots. A handful of humanoid startups, together with Determine, Agility, and Apptronik, have emerged over the previous few years, and a few main AI firms, together with Tesla and Google, are additionally investing in growing and testing humanoids. “I don’t see them having any magical benefit over anybody else,” says Tellex.
Humanoids have gotten more and more well-liked because the {hardware} and software program wanted to construct functioning prototypes turns into extra frequent. Whereas humanoids are nonetheless costly and troublesome to develop, new sorts of motors and different elements have made it cheaper and simpler to place collectively functioning methods. Software program reminiscent of Nvidia’s Isaac robotic growth platform have additionally made it less complicated to put in writing the code wanted to regulate and prepare humanoid methods.
Humanoid hype can be constructing. Enterprise capitalists have invested greater than $5 billion in humanoid startups for the reason that begin of 2024. Morgan Stanley reckons that the humanoid {industry} could possibly be price $5 trillion by 2050.
Whereas humanoids can carry out spectacular feats like dancing, they nonetheless lack the intelligence required to function in advanced and unpredictable, or “unstructured,” environments. To accumulate this, they are going to want algorithms that transcend a big language mannequin’s understanding of the bodily world. These methods should be capable of management limbs and grippers so as to stroll and manipulate bodily objects. Some analysis teams are beginning to display progress in growing extra usually succesful AI fashions for robots.
On the identical time, it’s changing into more and more clear that new concepts could also be wanted to push AI ahead. The latest disappointment of OpenAI’s GPT-5 is a part of a broader realization that reaching humanlike intelligence would require new avenues of analysis.
“They’ve asymptoted on GPT-5,” says Tellex. “They should transfer in direction of the bodily world.”
