Anthropic and Physical Intelligence: The Robotics War Among AI Giants

In a world where acquisition deals are closing at a remarkable pace, most pass by without much fanfare. Yet one rumor spread like wildfire over a weekend, igniting widespread debate in AI tech circles: Is Anthropic actually pursuing an acquisition of robotics startup Physical Intelligence?

The Rumor That Sparked the Debate

The spark was lit by a post from tech blogger Robert Scoble on X, unleashing a wave of speculation and questions. Although Physical Intelligence CEO Karol Hausman denied the reports via an internal Slack message — accompanied by a sarcastic GIF from The Office — the denial fell short of being definitive. According to The Information, conversations between the two companies did take place earlier this year, suggesting there is some truth to the story, even if the details were reported inaccurately.

Why Physical Intelligence, Specifically?

Physical Intelligence is no peripheral player in the robotics sector. Founded in San Francisco roughly two years ago by prominent investor Lashi Groom, alongside former Google researchers and professors from Stanford and UC Berkeley, the company has raised over one billion dollars in funding. Reports indicate it was on the verge of closing an additional billion-dollar round at an $11 billion valuation. Its π0.5 model is considered one of the most widely used robot brain models in robotics research worldwide.

Why Robotics, and Why Now?

Many experts argue that understanding the physical world has become a prerequisite for reaching artificial general intelligence, and that the volume of digital text available on the internet is insufficient on its own to achieve that goal. OpenAI's own journey in this space is telling: the company developed a robotic arm capable of solving a Rubik's Cube in its early days, then shut down its entire robotics team in 2021, only to return forcefully in 2024 by building a humanoid robotics lab in San Francisco — with CEO Sam Altman officially announcing the launch of "OpenAI Robotics" in late May.

Anthropic, by contrast, has yet to build a comparable lab. However, it has published a series of studies testing its frontier models in physical environments, most notably the Fetch project last November, which demonstrated Claude's ability to help non-specialists program a robotic arm. Results from the project's second phase in June suggest that the newer model completed the same tasks more than twenty times faster than the best human-robot team from the previous year. Against this backdrop, acquiring a specialized robotics team would seemingly save Anthropic years of arduous work.

Entangled Rivals: OpenAI Is Part of the Equation

A notable complication makes the picture even more intriguing: OpenAI itself is an investor in Physical Intelligence. This means Anthropic's biggest rival holds a stake in the very company Anthropic is said to have pursued. The overlap doesn't stop there — both companies share many of the same investors, including Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Founders Fund.

This raises fundamental questions about the nature of investment agreements:

• Does OpenAI hold information rights that would give it advance notice of any acquisition deal?
• Is there a right-of-first-refusal clause preventing a sale to a direct competitor?
• Will OpenAI intervene to ensure Physical Intelligence stays out of Anthropic's hands?

The Acquisition Race Shows No Signs of Slowing

In a broader context, Anthropic has completed four announced acquisitions this year, while OpenAI has surpassed seventeen deals since 2023. Both companies are preparing for initial public offerings: Anthropic filed its confidential registration with regulators on June 1st, followed by OpenAI a week later — a sequence that could produce two of the largest IPOs in the history of US capital markets.

Ultimately, the great battle among AI giants no longer appears confined to language algorithms and intelligent models. It has expanded into the realm of machines and robotics. Whoever commands this arena today may hold the keys to artificial general intelligence tomorrow.

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