ChatGPT creator OpenAI is looking to fuse its artificial intelligence systems into the bodies of humanoid robots as part of a new deal with robotics start-up Figure. California-based Figure announced the partnership on Thursday along with 675 million dollars in venture capital funding from a group that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as well as Microsoft, chipmaker Nvidia and the start-up funding divisions of Amazon, Intel and OpenAI.
Figure is less than two years old and does not have a commercial product but is persuading influential tech industry backers to support its vision of shipping billions of human-like robots to the world’s workplaces and homes. “If we can just get humanoids to do work that humans are not wanting to do because there’s a shortfall of humans, we can sell millions of humanoids, billions maybe,” Figure CEO Brett Adcock told the Associated Press last year.
For OpenAI, which dabbled in robotics research before pivoting to a focus on the AI large language models that power ChatGPT, the partnership will “open up new possibilities for how robots can help in everyday life”, said Peter Welinder, the San Francisco company’s vice president of product and partnerships.
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