reuters Humanoid robot startup gets large investment from big tech companies

[UltraMega]

Quote

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Nvidia and other big technology names are investing in startup Figure AI that develops human-like robots, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Figure AI, also backed by ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Microsoft is raising about $675 million in a funding round that carries a pre-money valuation of about $2 billion, according to the report.

Bezos had committed $100 million through his firm Explore Investments LLC and Microsoft is investing $95 million, while Nvidia and an Amazon-affiliated fund are each providing $50 million, the report added.

Investments in artificial intelligence startups have sparked after the launch of OpenAI's viral chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022, as investors sense an opportunity, betting on these startups that they might outpace bigger rivals.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-funding-humanoid-robot-startup-bloomberg-reports-2024-02-23/

 

 

 

[UltraMega]

 

 

I the video, they say they want to have their robot be commercially available one year from now. 

 

[GanjaSMK]

Holy smokes. If a true reality, man this tech and our leaps are coming faster than expected, IMHO. 

 

Wow... 

[LabRat]

TBQH, I'm less worried about the violent Machine Uprising, and far more worried about the psycho-social impacts.
Especially since, even myself would 100% be interested in a non-cloud connected "Locally Hosted" AI Avatar/Robot Companion

[GanjaSMK]

9 minutes ago, LabRat said:

TBQH, I'm less worried about the violent Machine Uprising, and far more worried about the psycho-social impacts.
Especially since, even myself would 100% be interested in a non-cloud connected "Locally Hosted" AI Avatar/Robot Companion

 

I second this. And not in the sense I think most people would be apprised to consider (say, sex dolls etc). 

 

No, I see it instead like a friend - almost - like a really smart two-legged dog friend. Always ready to go, always happy, but with compensatory knowledge to be a 'useful' companion. Like, "Man I wonder what the newest take on wave-particle duality is" and your companion happily springs up and begins to share all the newest relevant information and you have a hour-long discussion about philosophy of the underlying mechanics of how a wave is both particle and frequency..... 

 

Maybe ... Maybe not. Maybe just a smart robot dog. LOL 

[LabRat]

9 minutes ago, GanjaSMK said:

 

I second this. And not in the sense I think most people would be apprised to consider (say, sex dolls etc). 

 

No, I see it instead like a friend - almost - like a really smart two-legged dog friend. Always ready to go, always happy, but with compensatory knowledge to be a 'useful' companion. Like, "Man I wonder what the newest take on wave-particle duality is" and your companion happily springs up and begins to share all the newest relevant information and you have a hour-long discussion about philosophy of the underlying mechanics of how a wave is both particle and frequency..... 

 

Maybe ... Maybe not. Maybe just a smart robot dog. LOL 

Correct, and precisely what I was attempting to convey. 

Especially for us suspecting (or diagnosed) as 'on the spectrum', "Machine Intelligences" seem to 'jive' with us.
I can (and have been for YEARS) imagine(ing) the exponentiation of the individual, possible with such a companion. 

 

However, the same thing that happened with the proliferation of search engines, might happen to a further-degree: "I don't need to KNOW anything, I can just ask- (my robobuddy)"

Edited February 26 by LabRat

[GanjaSMK]

Yeah true. True true. I hope it doesn't go that route... 

 

If Neuralink inspires (I'm sure others are trying, if not governments/very quiet private equity investments) real machine-abled and/or knowledgeable database sets entirely accessible within normal human brain functions... I'll take that over robot overlords. 

I've always asserted that we as (humans) a species must embrace saving at least some biological fucntion of ourselves otherwise we cease to exist.  Meaning, let's not completely upload into the void. When that ability (if ever) becomes a reality, I hope we decide to maintain some of our natural biology. 

[UltraMega]

1 hour ago, GanjaSMK said:

Yeah true. True true. I hope it doesn't go that route... 

 

If Neuralink inspires (I'm sure others are trying, if not governments/very quiet private equity investments) real machine-abled and/or knowledgeable database sets entirely accessible within normal human brain functions... I'll take that over robot overlords. 

I've always asserted that we as (humans) a species must embrace saving at least some biological fucntion of ourselves otherwise we cease to exist.  Meaning, let's not completely upload into the void. When that ability (if ever) becomes a reality, I hope we decide to maintain some of our natural biology. 

 

IMO Neural link is a not going to go anywhere. It's an interesting science project, but what it can achieve is doable with no-implant devices. I've seen demos of head mounted sensor devices that just read your brain waves demoed over ten years ago that could do the same things neural link is trying to do now. 

Elon Musk thinks we live in a simulation, so I don't think his perspective on this is in touch with reality. The concept of controlling a computer with a neural interface is a good idea, but not an implant device. The brain can't understand binary and computers can't speak in brain waves so some kind of telepathy-like ability from implants is just not realistic, at least not without another giant leap in this tech that is no where near. Any neural device, implant or not, is a one way signal. Brain puts out signals and something picks up the signals. There is no tech in existence, theoretical or otherwise, that can send information to the brain in this context. 

 

The only useful application for a neural implant device is for disabled people. If you have a prosthetic arm, an implant device might be somewhat better than other input methods for controlling the arm, but that's never going to be a mass market kind of thing. 

Edited February 26 by UltraMega

[GanjaSMK]

27 minutes ago, UltraMega said:

 

IMO Neural link is a not going to go anywhere. It's an interesting science project, but what it can achieve is doable with no-implant devices. I've seen demos of head mounted sensor devices that just read your brain waves demoed over ten years ago that could do the same things neural link is trying to do now. 

Elon Musk thinks we live in a simulation, so I don't think his perspective on this is in touch with reality. The concept of controlling a computer with a neural interface is a good idea, but not an implant device. The brain can't understand binary and computers can't speak in brain waves so some kind of telepathy-like ability from implants is just not realistic, at least not without another giant leap in this tech that is no where near. 

 

The only useful application for a neural implant device is for disabled people. If you have a prosthetic arm, an implant device might be somewhat better than other input methods for controlling the arm, but that's never going to be a mass market kind of thing. 

 

I'm more along the lines of sci-fi style cybernetic a-la Cyberpunk 2077 style devices/biologically linked or otherwise, that enable us to do things sensory and thought based but say with enhanced abilities. Or for computational assistance, or say for a combination of computational plus rational thought experiments, etc. And all the other sci-fi applications already published lol... I mean whether we create tangible things that resemble sci-fi ideas (HAL, iRobot, Minority Report, etc etc) or not, the inspiration is at least somewhat imparted by sci-fi just as our own human inventions also inspire sci-fi. 

 

I mean, not that it'll manifest some of the crazier ideas out there in my lifetime .... lol.. 

[schuck6566]

I'm sorry, but do we really need a friend that may respond like the Bing AI bot did in the first video?(start watching around 5:30 for best parts) https://youtu.be/peO9RwKLYGY?si=3cbgj1KJtP48M0Z2

 

Or maybe we just need a robo friend like Hal?