OpenAI is recruiting research engineers to rebuild its robotics team, aims to eventually power robots
OpenAI is making a big move back into robotics, looking to hire research engineers to build a new robotics team. The company had shut down its previous robotics unit in 2020 but is now ready to dive back in, people familiar with the matter told Forbes. Although OpenAI hasn’t officially announced this, they confirmed the hiring through job listings.
The job listings of the company show that new hires will be among the first members of this new team, highlighting the early stage of this project. This indicates OpenAI’s focus on combining its advanced AI technology with robotics.
Over the past year, OpenAI has invested heavily in the robotics field through its startup fund. It has invested millions of money in companies like Figure AI, 1X Technologies, and Physical Intelligence. These investments show OpenAI’s strong interest in pushing the boundaries of humanoid robots. In February, OpenAI hinted at this robotics revival when Figure AI raised more funds. Soon after, Figure AI released a video of a robot demonstrating basic speech and reasoning skills, powered by OpenAI’s model.
Peter Welinder, OpenAI’s vice president who was part of the original robotics team, said, “We’ve always planned to come back to robotics, and we see a path with Figure to explore what humanoid robots can achieve when powered by highly capable multimodal models.”
The report says OpenAI doesn’t plan to compete directly with other robotics companies. Instead, it wants to develop AI technology that other manufacturers can use in their robots. The job listings also mention that new engineers will work with “external partners” and help train advanced AI models. It’s unclear if OpenAI will try to make its own robotics hardware, a challenge it faced in the past. For now, the focus might be on using its AI expertise to improve robotic functions.
Besides, Apple has reportedly entered into a strategic partnership with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT technology into its iOS 18 operating system for iPhones, according to The Information. This collaboration aims to improve Siri’s capabilities, making the digital assistant smarter and more responsive like humans.
The integration of ChatGPT, an advanced AI developed by OpenAI under the leadership of Sam Altman, promises to transform how Siri understands and answers complex queries. The agreement, expected to be officially announced at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), has been months in the making and hasn’t come without its share of internal challenges and resistance from both companies.
