OpenAI was Figure’s partner. Then, they became competitors.
OpenAI co-led the humanoid robotics company’s Series B in 2024, and the two companies entered into a collaboration agreement to “develop next-generation AI models” for the robots. Less than a year later, Figure CEO Brett Adcock said he decided to leave the agreement and build AI in-house.
Adcock shared new details about the separation on “The Shawn Ryan Show” this week. He said that OpenAI’s team provided “very little” value aside from its brand.
While he praised OpenAI leadership for their skill at developing chatbots, Adcock said that AI for robotics required a different set of techniques. His internal team, which included alums from top AI companies like Google DeepMind, was “complete superstars,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said he had a hard time “advancing stuff together as a team” with OpenAI.
“In robotics, you’ve got to run the robot, see how it does,” Adcock said. “We just had a hard time getting them in the office.”
As Adcock’s team developed the robot learning, he said that the OpenAI team watched their progress. He described a visit from Altman and OpenAI leaders, who were impressed by Figure’s neural network.
Then, Adcock said he got a call from OpenAI with a plan to pursue humanoids internally. “I was just like, ‘This is over,'” he said.
“There was information passing back that I think wasn’t really helpful for us long-term if we’re going to be competitors,” Adcock said.
OpenAI has since developed a robotics lab with around 100 data collectors that is teaching a robotic arm how to perform household tasks, Business Insider reported in January. The company has also backed the Norwegian-American robot maker 1X.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Staffer Tao Xu reposted the clip on X and wrote that it was “not true.” Xu has been a member of OpenAI’s technical staff since 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The OpenAI deal also made it difficult for Figure to hire, Adcock said. Candidates would assume that Figure did the robotics and OpenAI made the models, he said. He’d explain that Figure also had its own team for model development, but said recruiting was still a challenge.
“There was some good brand association there, but beyond that, there wasn’t much,” he said.
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