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ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is looking to fuse its artificial intelligence systems into the bodies of\u00a0humanoid robots<\/a>\u00a0as part of a new deal with robotics startup Figure.<\/p>\n Sunnyvale, California-based Figure announced the partnership Thursday along with $675 million in venture capital funding from a group that includes Amazon<\/a> founder Jeff Bezos as well as Microsoft<\/a>, chipmaker Nvidia<\/a> and the startup-funding divisions of Intel<\/a> and OpenAI.<\/p>\n Figure is less than two years old and doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s workplaces and homes.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we can just get humanoids to do work that humans are not wanting to do because there\u2019s a shortfall of humans, we can sell millions of humanoids, billions maybe,\u201d Figure CEO Brett Adcock told The Associated Press last year.<\/p>\n For OpenAI, which dabbled in robotics research before pivoting to a focus on the AI large language models that power ChatGPT, the partnership will \u201copen up new possibilities for how robots can help in everyday life,\u201d said Peter Welinder, the San Francisco company\u2019s vice president of product and partnerships, in a written statement.<\/p>\n Financial terms of the deal between Figure and OpenAI weren\u2019t disclosed. The collaboration will have OpenAI building specialized AI models for Figure\u2019s humanoid robots, likely based on OpenAI\u2019s existing technology such as GPT language models, the image-generator DALL-E and the new video-generator Sora.<\/p>\n That will help \u201caccelerate Figure\u2019s commercial timeline\u201d by enabling its robots to \u201cprocess and reason from language,\u201d according to Figure\u2019s announcement. The company announced in January an agreement with BMW to put its robots to work at a car plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but hadn\u2019t yet determined exactly how or when they would be used.<\/p>\n Robotics experts differ on the usefulness of robots shaped in human form. Most robots employed in factory and warehouse tasks might have some animal-like features \u2014 a robotic arm, finger-like grippers or even legs \u2014 but aren\u2019t truly humanoid. That\u2019s in part because it\u2019s taken decades for robotics engineers to develop robots that can walk effectively on two legs or reliably manipulate small objects.<\/p>\n Whitney Rockley, co-founder and managing partner of Toronto-based venture capital firm McRock Capital, said she understands the appeal of humanoids because they\u2019re relatable, evoking emotions and starting conversations. In practice, however, she said they\u2019re still awkward and pose huge technical challenges, which is why she\u2019s sticking to investing in non-humanoid robots.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look at robotics and automation really practically and say, \u2018What kind of timeline are we willing to commit to in order to really see commercial liftoff and deployments and applications?\u2019\u201d Rockley said. \u201cAnd I think that the groups that are backing a lot of humanoid solutions right now, they\u2019re in there for the long haul, which is great because you need that, but it\u2019s going to take decades upon decades.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hinted at a renewed interest in robotics in a podcast hosted by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and released early this year in which Altman said the company was starting to invest in promising robotics hardware platforms after having earlier abandoned its own research.<\/p>\n \u201cWe started robots too early and so we had to put that project on hold,\u201d Altman told Gates, noting that \u201cwe were dealing with bad simulators and breaking tendons\u201d that were distracting from the company\u2019s other work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe realized more and more over time that what we really first needed was intelligence and cognition and then we could figure out how we could adapt it to physicality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n The\u00a0AP has signed a deal with OpenAI for it to access its news archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to the Eye on AI newsletter to stay abreast of how AI is shaping the future of business. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n