General Intuition Attracts Investment at a $6 Billion Valuation and Pivots Toward Robotics

The «physical AI» arena is witnessing an accelerating wave of investor interest, and perhaps the most prominent example of this is the New York-based startup General Intuition. According to informed sources, the company is in talks to raise new funding at a $6 billion pre-money valuation, just a few weeks after a previous round that raised its valuation to $2.3 billion.

What Is General Intuition Building?

The company is developing a foundation model aimed at training AI agents capable of generalizing and moving through space and time, rather than being limited to specific tasks they were previously trained on. This approach places it among the companies seeking to give machines a capability closer to human «intuition» when dealing with new environments they have not encountered before.

From Visual Data to Movement Models

General Intuition launched last October as an independent entity spun off from Medal, a platform for sharing video game clips, founded by CEO Pim de Witte. The startup has capitalized on the treasure trove of data owned by the platform, as hundreds of millions of hours of gameplay were used as an initial training dataset.

But the most distinctive element is what is known as «action labels» — precise records documenting the buttons players pressed and the timing of each press. The company believes this data represents a key to understanding the relationship between a decision and the movement resulting from it.

Investors Betting on the «Emergence of Intuition»

Prominent investors are participating in the new round, most notably:

• Valor Equity Partners, known for backing SpaceX.
• The investment arm Point72 Ventures.
• The Seven Seven Six fund.

Existing investors such as Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst are also continuing their participation in the funding. Notably, Valor's investment in this company may be its first bet on an AI lab since it entered SpaceX.

Investor Vinod Khosla expresses his conviction that «action labels» will be a fundamental pillar in what he calls the «emergence of intuition» — the model's ability to generalize its skills to tasks it was not explicitly trained on, which is the most difficult goal in the field of general artificial intelligence.

Where the Funding Is Headed: Infrastructure and Robotics

The round has not yet closed, but a source close to the deal indicated that it has exceeded the target limit due to growing demand from investors. The company intends to use these funds in two main directions:

• Improving its general model with a clear focus on «robotic embodiment» — that is, transferring the model's capabilities to physical bodies capable of movement and interaction.
• Expanding its computing infrastructure through its partnership with CoreWeave, in addition to attracting more talent.

Why Does This Trend Matter?

This development reveals a notable shift in investment priorities within the AI sector, from text-based language models toward models capable of understanding and interacting with the physical world. While text and image generation models have flourished in recent years, it appears that the next wave is heading toward agents capable of actually «acting» in real space.

General Intuition's reliance on gaming data demonstrates an innovative approach to overcoming one of the biggest obstacles in robotics, namely the scarcity of data linking decisions to actions. Nevertheless, the greatest challenge remains in testing how successful this approach will be in transitioning from the virtual world of games to the complexities of the real physical world. The deal remains pending completion, meaning its final details may see adjustments.

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