Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock promised to deliver “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid” in the next 30 days.
“We found that to solve embodied AI at scale in the real world, you have to vertically integrate robot AI.”
“We can’t outsource AI for the same reason we can’t outsource our hardware.”
Figure AI, a robotics company working to bring a general-purpose humanoid robot into commercial and residential use, announced Tuesday on X that it is exiting a deal with OpenAI. The Bay Area-based outfit has instead opted to focus on in-house AI owing to a “major breakthrough.” In conversation with TechCrunch afterward, founder and CEO Brett Adcock was tightlipped in terms of specifics, but he promised to deliver “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid” in the next 30 days.
OpenAI has been a longtime investor in Figure. The two companies announced a deal last year that aimed to “develop next generation AI models for humanoid robots.” At the same time, Figure announced a $675 million raise, valuing the company at $2.6 billion. Figure has so far raised a total of $1.5 billion from investors.
The news is a surprise, given the role that OpenAI plays in the cultural zeitgeist. Mere association with the company comes with a rapid profile boost. In August, the two companies announced that the Figure 2 humanoid would use OpenAI models for natural language communication.