The Million-Dollar Question: What Is Physical AI Going To Do?

In a way, it’s like reading about something in a book, and having that mental image of what you imagine it looks like.

We’re due to soon see physical AI, in robot bodies, acting in our world. It’s going to be brand new, and, for some of us, right disturbing. And for many of us, it’s as of yet hard to visualize. We might see a few Unitree models doing backflips in Beijing, but as for real, immersive physical AI, we really, as the song goes, ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I got a sort of sneak preview by moderating most of a panel including two of my favorite AI experts at the Next Endeavor event Sept. 14-15, that we had in Mountain View, California, which Imagination in Action and partners put on (disclaimer: I help to run these events).

Gordon Wetzstein and Marco Pavone gave us some broad visions of what living with physical AI is going to be like, and how to think about the boundaries and features of the new machines. You can hear my excitement as I gave the intros.

“Physical AI,” Wetzstein said. “Let’s think about what that actually is. People think about robotics. People think about autonomous driving. … But there’s a lot more to physical AI than just robotics and autonomous driving.”

He explained:

“It’s basically bringing the ChatGPT moment from the digital world into the physical world. And that can mean basically having smart things everywhere. That means your lawn mower is going to mow your lawn. You might be able to do really interesting and useful work at home, by just being (remote and having work) done by some robot or some kind of a physically automated thing. And so I think it’s a step change.”

However, he warned, it’s not all cash and ice cream.

Here’s how Pavone explained it:

He disagreed with Wetzstein, though, on the “GPT moment.”

How Smart is the Robot?

I asked the two whether a robot can understand the physical world well without having a rich internal model, whether from detailed data or real experience.