OpenAI Is Working on a Humanoid Robot

With all the runaway success it's having with ChatGPT, OpenAI seemingly wants to give its versatile large language models a physical body — and is now throwing its money behind building a humanoid robot worker. OpenAI has invested in Norwegian robotics company 1X, leading a recent round of funding through its OpenAI Startup Fund at the end of last month that secured $23.5 million. A lateral investment in robotics marks a notable change for OpenAI, which has steered clear of anything mechanical since shutting down its own robotics division in 2021. Famously, the company's initial robotics foray managed to produce an artificial, humanoid hand that could solve a Rubik's cube on its own — an amusing and impressive feat that apparently paled to the company's rapidly rising success with generative AI.