Amazon and NVIDIA reveal investment in ‘Figure AI’
Musk releases additional ‘Optimus 2nd generation’ video
Big Tech competes fiercely to dominate the humanoid market
The big tech technology competition, centered around generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, is moving to ‘humanoids’ (humanoid robots). When Amazon and NVIDIA announced their intention to invest in humanoid startups, Tesla released an additional video of its AI robot one day later, on the 24th (local time).
On this day, Tesla CEO Elon Musk released a 1 minute and 18 second video of the company’s humanoid ‘Optimus 2nd generation’ walking on social media X (formerly Twitter). Optimus, the so-called ‘Teslabot’, is part of the Tesla AI project announced in 2021. Tesla first unveiled the first generation Optimus early last year, and also introduced the second generation robot in December of last year. Last month, the company released two videos of a second-generation robot taking clothes out of a basket and folding them.
Local media analyzed that the reason Tesla suddenly uploaded an additional video on this day was because there was an ‘intended purpose.’ Bloomberg News reported, “A day before, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and NVIDIA decided to invest $100 million (about 133 billion won) and $50 million, respectively, in ‘Figure AI.’” Figure AI is a humanoid startup founded in 2022 by former employees of Tesla and Boston Dynamics.
Microsoft (MS) and ChatGPT developer OpenAI also invested $95 million and $50 million, respectively, in Figure AI last month. LG Innotek (USD 8.5 million) and Samsung (USD 5 million) also jumped into investment. OpenAI is known to have also considered acquiring Figure AI.
The competition to dominate the humanoid market, which is called the ‘physical body’ of AI, is expected to intensify. Ajay Agrawal, Distinguished Professor at the Rotman Graduate School of Management at the University of Toronto, Canada, said at the Dong-A Business Forum last year, “Once AI humanoid robots equipped with a large behavioral model (LBM) have a ‘brain’, the final piece of the puzzle, they will be able to perform almost all human tasks. “We will be able to do it,” he predicted.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.