It’s been a big year for AI acquisitions, with companies like Anthropic and OpenAI snapping up developer tooling, AI services shops, and product-testing startups to convert model capability into enterprise revenue. A recent rumor about Anthropic acquiring robotics startup Physical Intelligence has sent shockwaves through the AI community, sparking questions about the motivations behind such a move.
Physical Intelligence is not your average robotics shop. Co-founded by Lachy Groom, an investor-operator whose star has been on the rise in Silicon Valley in recent years, it has raised over $1 billion and was reportedly in talks for another $1 billion round at an $11 billion valuation. Its π0.5 model is among the more widely used robot brains in robotics research.
The rumor gained traction after tech blogger Robert Scoble posted on X about Anthropic’s potential acquisition of Physical Intelligence, citing a weekend post that spread exceedingly fast even after a denial from Physical Intelligence’s CEO. Part of the reason for this was due to who was involved – Physical Intelligence isn’t some obscure robotics shop.
It turns out that the rumor wasn’t completely spurious. According to The Information, Anthropic and Physical Intelligence did hold acquisition talks this spring. While Physical Intelligence’s response to the rumor mill wasn’t the world’s most vigorous denial, it should be noted that CEO Karol Hausman told employees the reports weren’t true via a Slack message containing a gif of a character from “The Office” shaking her head no.
Anthropic has made four known acquisitions this year, while OpenAI has been more aggressive, acquiring at least 17 companies since 2023. Both are also preparing to go public – Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO on June 1, followed by OpenAI a week later. So why robotics, and why now?
The likeliest answer is that physical-world understanding may be a prerequisite for superintelligent systems, and no amount of internet text can substitute for it. OpenAI’s own history here is instructive – it built an early robotic hand that could solve a Rubik’s Cube, then shut the entire robotics group down in 2021, with co-founder Wojciech Zaremba later saying the approach was missing pieces needed for real superintelligence.
Anthropic hasn’t built anything resembling OpenAI’s hardware lab. What it has done is publish a string of research pieces through its internal group that stress-tests frontier capabilities for safety purposes. Buying an existing team with robotics expertise would let Anthropic skip years of work.
There’s a possible complication, though – Physical Intelligence was founded in San Francisco roughly two years ago by Groom and former Google researchers, and its early investor base looks a lot like OpenAI’s own, including Khosla Ventures and Thrive Capital. Founders Fund – also a major OpenAI investor – was reportedly involved in Physical Intelligence’s newest funding round earlier this year.
In fact, OpenAI is itself an investor in Physical Intelligence, so it isn’t just a peripheral player; it’s a stakeholder in a company that its chief rival was reportedly in talks to buy very recently. That raises questions around whether OpenAI’s early investment came with any information rights, or a right of first refusal over a sale to a competitor.
That leaves open the possibility that if Physical Intelligence is actually in play, OpenAI – already a shareholder, already close to Groom, already trying to ensure it bests Anthropic in robotics – may have the more obvious claim to it than Anthropic does. We asked OpenAI these questions earlier today and the company didn’t respond.
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