Jeff Bezos and SoftBank Lead $300M Investment in AI Startup Developing Robot Brains

Jeff Bezos, others help raise $300M for a startup building robot brains

Skild AI launched out of stealth mode Tuesday by announcing a $300 million funding round led by Jeff Bezos' fund and Japan's Softbank Group that will help the Pittsburgh-based startup build what it calls a "general-purpose brain" for a variety of robots. The company, founded in May 2023 by Carnegie Mellon University professors Deepak Pathak and Abhinav Gupta, says that it has trained its AI model on more data than its competitors, while building a system that could be retrofitted to existing hardware. "The large-scale model we are building demonstrates unparalleled generalization and emergent capabilities across robots and tasks, providing significant potential for automation within real-world environments," Pathak said in a statement. "We believe Skild AI represents a step change in how robotics will be scaled, and has the potential to change the entire physical economy." Such a robot brain could theoretically empower quadrupeds like Boston Dynamics' dog "Spot," and humanoids like Digit, which is designed and trained in the Lawrenceville neighborhood by Agility Robotics, though the company has not yet announced specific partners. The goal is to help robots master the physical world, so they don't stumble over obstacles, putting humans at risk. Skild AI said its system could be applied to complex household tasks and industrial work. It could also help reduce the cost of robots. "With general purpose robots that can safely perform any automated task, in any environment, and with any type of embodiment, we can expand the capabilities of robots, democratize their cost, and support the severely understaffed labor market," Gupta said. The company, now valued at $1.5 billion, is hiring for several engineering positions in Pittsburgh, according to its website. So far the team includes experts from Meta, Tesla, Nvidia, Amazon and Google, as well as students from Carnegie Mellon University. Matthew Johnson-Roberson, who oversees CMU's Robotics Institute, said Skild AI is "founded by visionary experts at the forefront of robotics innovation." "I'm eager to witness how their cutting-edge technology will revolutionize industry and continue CMU's long history in translational research." CMU invested in the startup alongside Amazon, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and others. Stephanie Zhan, a partner at Sequoia, expressed a "deep conviction" in the team, which she said is ushering in "a monumental shift" in robotics. She compared the moment to the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Another investor, Atlassian, said Skild AI's tech could prepare robots for jobs in hazardous environments and places like hospitals that are short on human staff. Skild AI said it would use the new funding to improve its AI model while chasing commercial deployment. The long-term goal is to create a form of artificial general intelligence that is as capable as humans and "rooted in the physical world."

Jeff Bezos And Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Lead $300M Funding Round For Startup Working On Developing 'General Purpose Brain' For AI Systems - SoftBank Group (OTC:SFTBF), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

The artificial intelligence company Skild AI has secured a substantial $300 million in Series A funding. This investment round was led by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and SoftBank Group SFTBY SFTBF, led by Masayoshi Son, among others, and is aimed at developing a "general-purpose brain" for AI systems. What Happened: Skild AI, a spinout from Carnegie Mellon, recently emerged from stealth mode to announce the successful completion of its Series A funding round, the company announced last week. The company is focused on creating an AI system that can be retrofitted into various machines and robotics devices. The funding, which was raised at a valuation of $1.5 billion, was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Bezos through Bezos Expeditions. It also saw participation from Felicis Ventures, Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, CRV, Amazon, SV Angel, and Carnegie Mellon University. Skild AI is the latest entrant in the AI space with the ambitious goal of developing an "artificial general intelligence." Skild AI's long-term objective is to create a modular artificial "brain" that can be retrofitted for use in any compatible housing. The company's roadmap and partnerships were not disclosed in the Series A funding announcement. See Also: Microsoft's $1.5B Investment Under Scrutiny, Alibaba Showcases AI Breakthroughs In Shanghai And More: This Week In Artificial Intelligence Why It Matters: Bezos's involvement in Skild AI comes after he sold $5 billion in Amazon shares earlier this year. This move had sparked speculation about his financial strategies, including a potential purchase of the Seattle Seahawks. Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon's CEO in 2021, continues to shape the tech landscape through strategic investments and his role as executive chair. Meanwhile, SoftBank has been aggressively expanding its AI portfolio. Recently, SoftBank acquired UK chipmaker Graphcore to strengthen its AI capabilities. This acquisition aligns with SoftBank's broader strategy to invest in foundational AI technologies, including semiconductors and systems. Amazon's increasing reliance on robotics further underscores the significance of Skild AI's mission. The e-commerce giant has deployed over 750,000 robots, replacing more than 100,000 human jobs. These robots, such as Sequoia and Digit, enhance efficiency and safety, highlighting the growing role of AI in operational processes. Additionally, the broader AI landscape is witnessing ambitious predictions. Emad Mostaque, co-founder of Stability AI, recently forecasted that China would lead in robot adoption, with Elon Musk echoing that robots will eventually outnumber humans. Read Next: Elon Musk Surprised To Learn Tesla Influencer Earns 50-100 Times More At YouTube Than At X: 'Wow, You Really Get So Much...' Image Via Shutterstock This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Jeff Bezos and Softbank Invest $300M In Skild AI Robot Brains: Future of AI? | CoinGape

The new face, actually the Brain of the AI industry, has been revealed by Skild AI, which has emerged as the biggest competition to famous OpenAI and xAI. The last 100 years of technological development is much higher than the previous thousand years. The prime example of this is the developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Until last year, most people had not heard of AI chatbots, or anyone openly working on building AI robots. However, with the launch of Chatgpt, newer and better projects flooded the market. Skild AI is building one such project and has recently gained a $300M investment from big venture capitalists like Jeff Bezos and Softbank. With this, Skild AI is the new addition to the companies OpenAI, Anthropic AI, and xAI, working towards AI development. Skild AI is an AI startup launched in May 2023 and is among the competitors to Open AI. It is led by the ex-professors of Carnegie Mellon University, i.e., Abhinav Gupta and Deepak Pathak. This startup is now working on a general-purpose Robot Brain, an AI model that can be used in any robot. It will allow Robots to perform all the complex and challenging tasks for industries and other needed locations. Robot Brain will be universal, which will eliminate the need to create custom robot software, which usually costs a lot, As per the Skild AI press release, "These machines could be "quadrupeds mastering adverse physical conditions" or "vision-based humanoids performing dexterous manipulation of objects for complex household and industrial tasks." The company is also working towards building an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) to develop human-like Intelligence. However, there is no meaning attributed to this term yet, but it is no different from the AI system. As clear with its name, Robot Brain is the core Artificial Intelligence model of the robot system, which will allow the robot to perform simple tasks based on its programming. The software is trained for tasks by providing real work data from texts, images, and videos, the way AI chatbots get trained. However, this Robot Brain will be far more advanced as it will be trained for remote control tasks as well as random ones on demand. Per this, the robot might carry a human-like physical movement. In a recent press release, Abhinav Gupta, the founder, explained it, With general purpose robots that can safely perform any automated task, in any environment, and with any type of embodiment, we can expand the capabilities of robots, democratize their cost, and support the severely understaffed labor market. Skild AI's Robot brain is also supposed to perform random tasks without training. Just the way living organisms like humans have gained the ability to move to perform tasks, the Robot brain will have similar functions. The company wants to create a robot that is far different from that factory-working industrialist machine. These machines have speed and efficiency but lack flexibility. This is an idea for now, but with this vision, Skild AI has succeeded in getting $300 Million in funding. With this, the startup will be building the first Robot Brain, which might push the AI industry to another level.