Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia invest in robot startup – 02/29/2024 – Tech

Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia are among the investors in a Silicon Valley startup that aims to introduce AI-powered humanoid robots into the workforce and transform the global job market.

Figure AI announced this Thursday (29) that it has raised US$675 million (R$3.3 billion) from some of the world’s leading AI companies in a new round of financing that valued the company at US$2.6 billion (around R$13 billion).

The startup plans to use the capital to hire more engineers, expand its AI training and robot manufacturing.

Figure AI also reached a deal with OpenAI to develop “next-generation AI models for humanoid robots” and signed an AI infrastructure agreement with Microsoft, the company said.

“Our vision at Figure is to bring humanoid robots to commercial operations as quickly as possible,” said CEO Brett Adcock, who founded Figure nearly two years ago.

Adcock, who also co-founded air taxi service Archer Aviation, added that with this round of investment, the company is poised to have a “transformative impact on humanity.”

Figure AI believes its humanoid robots, capable of performing tasks such as moving boxes onto a conveyor belt, could alleviate labor shortages and fill up to 10 million “undesirable or unsafe” jobs in the US alone.

By 2030, the US manufacturing sector will have 2.1 million unfilled jobs, a 2021 Deloitte study found.

The latest round of funding includes startup funds from OpenAI, Align Ventures and Ark Invest, as well as Bezos Expeditions, the family office of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Parkway Venture Capital and Intel Capital, which invested in the previous round of US$70 million in May 2023, are also financing the company again.

Figure seeks to accelerate its commercial plans with its collaboration with OpenAI and improve its robots’ ability to process language, it said.

Peter Welinder, vice president of products and partnerships at OpenAI, said the two companies will be able to “explore what humanoid robots can achieve when powered by highly capable multimodal models.”

Microsoft will provide Figure with access to the AI ​​infrastructure, training and storage services of its Azure cloud computing platform.

This will “support the deployment of humanoid robots to help people with concrete applications,” said Jon Tinter, corporate vice president of business development at Microsoft.

The startup reached a deal in January with BMW, its first commercial deal, to deploy its robots in U.S. automakers, initially in South Carolina. It plans to begin this year.

Nvidia’s involvement in the funding round comes on the heels of a robust 2023 earnings report, which helped propel global stock markets to all-time highs.

The US chipmaker has been the main beneficiary of an AI boom that has driven demand for its chips. Nvidia has at the same time emerged as one of the most prolific investors in AI startups, investing in 35 companies in 2023.

OpenAI, whose chatbot ChatGPT triggered the AI ​​boom in late 2021, has a complex relationship with Microsoft.

Microsoft made an investment of US$13 billion in the company, but does not have a conventional shareholding. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015, but has for-profit subsidiaries created to facilitate investment from Microsoft.

The company is still in the process of changing its management structure following a board collapse that resulted in the temporary dismissal of Sam Altman in November.