OpenAI's new job postings hint at its robotics ambitions
11 Jan 2025

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence research lab, is hinting at its future plans for the company's revived robotics division.

The details were revealed by Caitlin Kalinowski, the company's hardware director, in a social media post mentioning job descriptions.

Kalinowski, who joined OpenAI in November 2024 from Meta's AR glasses division, said that OpenAI will develop its proprietary robots with custom sensor suites.

Focus on versatile, adaptive robots
Robotics vision

The job descriptions shared by Kalinowski suggest that the company's robotics division will focus on building "general-purpose," "adaptive," and "versatile" robots.

These bots will be capable of working with human-like intelligence in dynamic real-world environments.

The company also intends to build new sensors and computational components for its robots, which will be powered by AI models developed in-house.

OpenAI's approach to robotics development
Development strategy

One of the job listings reads, "Working across the entire model stack, we integrate cutting-edge hardware and software to explore a broad range of robotic form factors."

This indicates that OpenAI intends to take a holistic approach to developing its robots.

The company wants to integrate advanced AI capabilities seamlessly with the physical constraints of robotic platforms.

Plans for large-scale production and testing
Production goals

The job listings also indicate that OpenAI is looking to hire contract workers to test its robotic prototypes.

One of the listings even hints at the possibility of the company's robots having limbs.

According to The Information, OpenAI has previously even considered building its own humanoid robot.

The company's ultimate goal is to achieve "full-scale production" of its robots, as one of the job descriptions stated.

OpenAI's ambitious production targets
Ambition

OpenAI appears to be optimistic about its robotics venture.

In one job listing, the company said it is looking for an engineer with "experience designing mechanical systems intended for high volume (1 million+)."

The company is also working on other hardware projects, including a collaboration with former Apple product designer Jony Ive and a custom chip to power its AI models.