Physical AI: why the money is now going to humanoid robots

We talk a lot about artificial intelligence, but almost always about the “mental” kind. Today I talk about the other one: Physical AI.

What Physical AI is

When we say AI we think of LLMs, the models that learn from text and spit text back out, and of software agents. Physical AI is something else: it’s artificial intelligence that interacts with the physical world.

From the smart home to lights-out factories

A smart home is already a small example: sensors, actuators, automations acting on real things.

Fully automated car factories are a huge example. The ones where robots do everything from start to finish, without even the lights on, because there’s nobody who needs to see. Monstrous and beautiful, I’d say.

Why humanoids

Now, though, the money is shifting to humanoid robots. And the reason, to me, is simple: we built cities, doors and stairs tailored to a biped.

A robot on wheels gets through the door, but then there are stairs on the other side and it can’t climb them. If you want a robot that works in the world as it is, without rebuilding it from scratch, the human shape is the one that fits best.

Where the investments are going

In the video I give some examples of where investments are moving: China, factories, and Italy too. The point is whether Italy and Europe will manage to get on this train, after having largely missed the LLM one.

Connecting the dots

From the industrial revolution to LLMs, all the way to robotics: it’s always the same story of automation moving up a level. First machines replaced strength, then computers replaced calculation, LLMs part of intellectual work. Now it’s the turn of physical work that requires adapting to the world.

The side I like least

There’s also the military side, and it’s the one I like least. Unfortunately military applications already exist.

What I hope for

What I hope for is something else: medicine, care, more time to grow as human beings. And maybe, why not, robots paving the way for us on other planets. Even Mars.

Where do you think this road leads? Write it in the comments on the video (it’s in Italian).