China’s Spirit AI Predicts Robot Breakthrough

Humanoid robots could see a major breakthrough in the capabilities of their “brains” as early as mid-2027, according to Chinese company Spirit AI. Co-founder and chief scientist Gao Yang said intelligence remains the weakest link in today’s robots, even though their hardware already allows them to run, dance and perform backflips.

Gao compared the potential breakthrough to the significance of GPT-3 for artificial intelligence. However, he estimated that humanoid robots could still be at least eight years away from widespread use in homes.

Development is being hampered by a lack of real-world training data. Spirit AI therefore uses around 1,000 contractors equipped with sensors to record everyday activities such as opening refrigerators and cutting vegetables.

The company already has tens of its Moz1 robots deployed at battery maker CATL and retailer JD.com. Gao expects the first wave of industrial applications within the next one to two years, followed by robots performing simpler tasks in commercial services.

(Reuters, mja)