Collaboration with Sanctuary AI: Microsoft’s Interest in Artificial General Intelligence
Microsoft has recently shown its interest in the field of general-purpose robotics AI by spearheading a massive $675 million Series B investment in Figure, a Bay Area-based company. However, they are not stopping there. The tech giant has now announced a collaboration with Sanctuary AI, a competitor of Figure known for its humanoid robot, Phoenix.
The reason behind Microsoft’s interest in this partnership lies in their pursuit of artificial general intelligence. This concept is often discussed when it comes to humanoid robots, but its implementation is still a few years away. Artificial general intelligence refers to robots that can learn and reason like humans, which would significantly enhance their capabilities compared to the current single-purpose systems.
The humanoid form factor offers a broader range of motion for robots, but to achieve the long-promised “general-purpose status,” they need to possess the intelligence to match. Geordie Rose, the co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI, emphasizes the significance of creating systems that can think and understand like humans. He believes this challenge requires collaboration among the best global minds and expresses excitement about working with Microsoft to develop the next generation of AI models for general-purpose robots.
This partnership not only deepens Microsoft’s commitment to AI development but also provides them with a hardware design partner in Sanctuary AI. Sanctuary has already been operating in this space for some time and recently secured a pilot partnership with Magna, a company that will bring the latest version of Phoenix to car plants.
Sanctuary’s robots have already undergone testing across 400 customer-defined tasks in 15 different industries. However, it is important to note that we are still in the early stages of this technology.
Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, has also expressed his interest in humanoids earlier this year. Although he did not mention Sanctuary or Figure specifically, he did discuss competitors Agility and Apptronik.
It is worth mentioning that Microsoft is not the only company hedging its bets in this category. OpenAI, another Microsoft partner, has made its own investments in both Figure and its competitor, 1X.
Overall, Microsoft’s collaboration with Sanctuary AI highlights their commitment to advancing artificial general intelligence and their recognition of the need for collaboration among industry leaders. By working together, they aim to unlock the potential of general-purpose robots that can think and understand like humans, taking robotics to new heights.
