Latest news with #Figure
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The Week In AI: Cheap House Robots and Pricey Manhattan Projects
Last Friday, my colleague Ethan Feller and I had another awesome live event surveying all the latest happenings in AI. We do so every Friday in an X Space where we each have 6 unique AI topics that we present in a rapid-fire 60-minute run-through. We started this gig in May when the innovations, controversy, and drama were happening so fast, we didn't see how it could continue at that pace. Eight weeks later, it only shows signs of more acceleration and amazement. So here's a quick summary of just 6 of the major reveals, deals, and feels we covered last Friday July 11... 1) $9,000 Humanoid Robots from K-Scale Labs in Palo Alto K-Scale Labs launched pre-orders for its open-source humanoid, priced at $9K. The K-Bot stands 4′7″, weighs 77lbs, and integrates with K-Scale's open-source stack, covering various models and hardware designs. One of the founding engineers, working out of their shared house in Palo Alto, posted this on X: Robotics in the U.S. is broken -- proprietary, expensive, and slow. We're going to change that. We're building, learning, and shipping mass-production grade humanoid robots with the open-source communities. We're launching America's first open-source end-to-end humanoid robot starting at $8,999. Open-source hardware, Rust OS, Python SDK, RL training libraries. The future of robotics is autonomous, open-source, affordable, and made in America. (end of X post by @JingxiangMo) Getting a Jump on Optimus and Figure Even though we talked about these renegades in an early episode of The Week In AI, I was newly invigorated and inspired by their passionate 3-minute video that chronicled their journey and mission -- as they just released 100 new models for sale and raised $1 million dollars very quickly. Essentially, the K-Scale team, led by a former developer at Tesla TSLA and OpenAI named Benjamin Bolte, wants to beat both Tesla Optimus and Figure AI robots to the market with an open-source platform. I am humbled and awed by their vision and tenacity when they could easily try a smoother path with more investment funding to scale up instead of going direct with "models in progress." But then again, isn't that what the big LLM model companies are doing? Benjamin Bolte thinks we should all be able to train our humanoid robots to do a specific task -- mop the floor, wipe the counters, vacuum, load the dishwasher, or fold the laundry -- and that homeowners can share those trainings across the open-source "robo-sphere" to help everyone have a better experience with their bot. And because of this potential, many innovators and investors think we are soon approaching a "ChatGPT Moment" for robotics where the acceleration and adoption takes off exponentially. Famed VC investor Vinhod Khosla said recently "By the 2030s, almost everyone will have a humanoid robot at home. Robots won't be programmed -- they'll learn tasks by themselves. Humanoid robots will become common because they are cheaper to produce at scale." Obviously, open-source training "on-premise" (your home) makes it all more realistic. While there are concerns about the "edge device" application safety of a humanoid in your home, we've got a few years to figure that part out, since companies like K-Scale prefer right now to just sell to developers and companies willing to do the work and take the risks. For more on the robotics revolution, be sure to go here to see all the links, videos, and commentary... The Week In AI: $9,000 Humanoid Robots, Zuck the Poacher, Larry Page Builds Skynet Here's a hit list of the other 5 big topics in our weekly run-down... 2) Zuck the Poacher: Buying, Bribing, Stealing Talent from Everywhere On June 30 Meta Platforms META introduced its new "Superintelligence Lab," led by Alexandr Wang from Scale AI and Nat Friedman. Recall that in late June, Mark Zuckerberg announced a deal to acquire 49% of Scale AI for $14.3 billion. It was seen quickly as the first major 'acqui-hire' in the AI race. The new division includes 11 research hires from top AI labs, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. Last Friday morning, I also did an interview with Bloomberg about Apple AAPL and the narrative that they are "falling behind" in AI and need to catch-up by proving that Apple Intelligence is real and robust. I offered the view that Apple is not behind just because Siri isn't performing LLM duties. Tim Cook & Co. will take their time to get that right because they are a "product perfect" company first. And they have their eyes on the prize of being the ultimate healthcare assistant, not an answer bot. But where Cook could improve his strategy is on recruiting top talent, especially after losing his COO Jeff Williams to retirement and rumors of other infighting that hamper innovation. That's why I told Bloomberg he needs to steal a page from Zuck's playbook. And a few hours later, we learned of Alphabet's GOOGL magnificent "rearguard" action... Google Goes Windsurfing in the AI War for Talent 3) "The Great Separation" -- Who Wins, And Who Gets Left Behind, in the AI Age by Coatue Mgmt Coutue is a cross-asset investment firm specializing in technology with nearly $100 billion AUM. Half is in public Wall Street equities like NVIDIA NVDA and Taiwan Semiconductor TSM and the other half is in Silicon Valley startups from Abacus AI, run by frequent Week In AI expert source Bindu Reddy, to YAHAHA, a metaverse 3D creation platform. I run through 10 slides from a great presentation they just gave with the guide of Jason Lemkin. Their research is deep and so I am not quick to question their assumptions or conclusions about what is coming with the AI Economy Transformation -- especially since I already agreed with most of their ideas years ago. This part of the X Space is worth your time alone and comes in around the 25-minute mark. Plus, the comments section of the X Space has the link to Jason's run-through of his top ten slides. 4) JOBS: Never a Shortage of Automation Doomerism As always for The Week In AI, I collect a handful of the latest studies and expert opinions on the fate of knowledge worker jobs as AI gets better at human numerical and language tasks. Emad Mostaque of Stability AI says AI agents will outperform humans on most digital tasks by 2026. But AGI won't be a "godmind." "It'll feel like your smartest coworker on Zoom or WhatsApp. We don't need polymaths. Just competent workers getting the job done. I want cooks, not chefs." In addition to a few other views on the employment outlook, I also look at a post by Amanda Goodall @thejobchick where she breaks down how IBM just replaced 8,000 HR staff by automating 94% of their tasks -- including terminations! 5) Medical Superintelligence Microsoft introduced MAI-DxO (Diagnostic Orchestrator), what the company is calling a "step towards medical superintelligence." The system solved 85.5% of 304 cases vs. just 20% by experienced physicians. It also delivered greater cost savings than human doctors. In the X Space, I share a good 6-post thread with Microsoft graphics by "Chubby" @kimmonismus on X... Microsoft's LLM is not only designed for multiple-choice questions, but also for real medical diagnoses in realistic scenarios – and outperforms even top models such as o3. Another great science post last week came from @Dr_Singularity about a 'Self-driven Biological Discovery through Automated Hypothesis Generation and Experimental Validation.' Dr. Singularity said "An autonomous scientific engine has arrived" and I couldn't agree more or be more excited by this! He introduces the research this way: A new study unveils a fully automated framework that combines: Large Language Models – to reason, hypothesize, and plan. Relational Learning – to connect complex biological knowledge. Robotic Labs – to run experiments in the real world. All of it working in a closed loop, with zero human input. AI now asks the questions, runs the tests, and learns from the results. We're entering a world where machines can do science faster than humans ever could. Biology is just the beginning. Welcome to the age of autonomous discovery. (end of Dr. Singularity's intro) Gives me chills about what is possible now with the physical sciences! 6) Manhattan Projects for a High-Tech Industrial Renaissance One big theme I've been tracking lately are the vocal calls by experts for bigger scale industrial projects to support AI and robotics industries. Marc Andreessen and Eric Schmidt are two voices I really respect here. A few weeks ago I profiled the proposal of Jan Sramek of California Forever to build an "American Shenzhen" high-tech R&D city northeast of the Bay Area. Jan wrote in a post... "America cannot compete with China without building America's Shenzhen – a place to build drones, ships, robots, and everything else cutting edge. Where? On @CAForever's 100 square miles in Solano, 60 miles north of SF/Silicon Valley, where we invent that stuff." Then last week I shared a video clip from a great X AI follow @vitrupo quoting General Matter CEO Scott Nolan, who basically says... "AI demand could match the entire U.S. power grid by 2030. Without urgent expansion of nuclear reactors and fuel, we don't just risk brownouts and skyrocketing energy costs. We risk not getting AI at all." This is why I just bought Rolls-Royce RYCEY shares as they are getting more contracts to build small modular reactors (SMR) in the UK and Europe. So when my colleague Ethan Feller brought a paper to our X Space by Epoch AI titled How big could an 'AI Manhattan Project' get? I was very excited. A man who's wasting no time planning for such projects is Softbank's Masayoshi Son who announced in late June his idea for a $1 trillion "American Shenzhen" in Arizona in conjunction with TSMC. Ethan also covered the latest project of the other Google founder Larry Page, who has launched a startup called Dynatomics, focused on using AI to revolutionize product manufacturing. All this suddenly made me think last week..."AI isn't electricity -- it's gunpowder" in terms of its revolutionary impact on power and wealth. Be sure to check out The Week In AI X Space for all the links. I love making a curated menu of topics every week where you are guaranteed to find something delicious! Kevin Cook is a Senior Stock Strategist for Zacks Investment Research where he runs the TAZR Trader portfolio with several AI holdings mentioned here, including NVDA, TSM, AMD and others. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RYCEY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Business Insider
11-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Figure AI founder Brett Adcock says there will soon be as many humanoid robots as humans
"The home is coming," Brett Adcock, the founder of robotics company Figure AI, says. "The home is like single-digit years away" from being a place where humanoid robots can do "useful work," he said this week on Around the Prompt, a tech podcast. That is, first and foremost, thanks to advances in hardware, which have become significantly more reliable in the past decade. "You can't get this done on like mediocre hardware," Adcock said. Neural networks, the computational models that mimic the networks in the brain, meanwhile, have evolved to make humanoids a near-term reality, he said. Adcock referenced an update the company released last week for its humanoid robot, Helix, allowing it to complete an hour of "uninterrupted logistics work." The robot managed packages on a conveyor belt. Adcock said the latest development shows that its neural nets are "approaching human speed and performance." Watch Helix's neural network do 60 minutes of uninterrupted logistics work Helix now incorporates touch and short-term memory and it's performance continuously improves over time — Figure (@Figure_robot) June 7, 2025 Investors, too, see promise in a future populated by humanoid robots. Figure, founded in 2022, has raised $2.34 billion, with $1.5 billion coming from its latest Series C round in February led by SaxeCap, 1802 Ventures, and Vegvisir Capital. The company is now valued at $2.6 billion, according to PitchBook. The company has also raised money from companies like Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. But Adcock — who previously founded electric aircraft company Archer and AI talent marketplace Vettery — said he put in a bulk of the initial capital. In the last seven years, the "climate towards deep tech has really flipped," Adcock said. "There are fully dedicated funds for this. People realize now that probably some of these deep tech companies might be the biggest businesses in the world or starting to become the biggest business." Other major players in the humanoid robot space include Tesla, which has Optimus, a 5-foot-8 humanoid robot that can dance, clean, and take out the trash. The company is working to deploy its first fleet in its factories by the year's end. Boston Dynamics has Atlas, which can run, crawl, break dance, and do cartwheels. Agility Robotics has Digit, which Amazon once tested in its warehouses, though the e-commerce giant now uses its own set of in-house, non-humanoid robots designed by Amazon Robotics. Many of these humanoid machines move with fluidity, exhibiting a suite of motor skills that allow them to augment the human labor force. Figure says its mission is to "develop general-purpose humanoids that make a positive impact on humanity and create a better life for future generations," especially ones that can "eliminate the need for unsafe and undesirable jobs — ultimately allowing us to live happier, more purposeful lives." The company already has robots mingling with humans at its offices, asking employees if they want water or coffee, or simply patrolling the premises, he said. So, it's not hard to imagine a time when "you'll see as many humanoid robots as you see humans," he said. "It's literally going to feel like a sci-fi movie." The real draw, though, is that "the humanoid robots will be the ultimate deployment vector for AGI," he said. Humanoids aren't the only type of robots in development. In 2024, investors put $6.1 billion in VC dollars behind the general category of robotics, up 19% from 2023, according to PitchBook. That includes companies collecting data, building AI models for robots, and creating robotic fleet management software, PitchBook said. "There's a whole ecosystem that's been kickstarted in the last three years," Srini Ananth, managing director at Intel Capital, told PitchBook. Some experts in the field question whether the human form is really the best vehicle for machines. "My hypothesis is that the requirements of different tasks are so vast that having very few form or sticking with one form is energy inefficient," Fei-Fei Li, cofounder and CEO of World Labs, said on the No Priors podcast. "Just an extreme and trivial example, if we put robots underwater, they should not be the shape of humans. They better be in the shape of fish. Just think about energy efficiency. The same with flying."
Business Wire
12-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Figure Technology Solutions Achieves Industry First with S&P AAA Ratings for Blockchain Assets
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Figure Technology Solutions ('Figure'), a technology platform powering an efficient, liquid, blockchain-based marketplace for financial products, today announced its latest securitization of mortgage assets totaling $355 million. This transaction, FIGRE 2025-HE3, is a landmark achievement as the first of its kind to receive ratings from S&P Global Ratings across all six bond classes, ranging from AAA to B-. 'This milestone is a significant validation of both our asset quality and the blockchain-backed ecosystem we are building,' said Todd Stevens, Chief Capital Officer of Figure. 'Securing AAA ratings from S&P reflects the growing confidence in blockchain infrastructure as a foundation for secure, efficient, and transparent financial products.' Key Highlights of the Transaction: Investor Participation: More than 30 unique investors participated in the transaction, with large AAA investor participation. Participants included insurance companies, money managers, and credit funds. Oversubscription: All bond classes were oversubscribed during the sale process, reflecting strong market demand. Figure Connect: All of the collateral in the transaction was contributed by participants on Figure Connect – underscoring growing acceptance of our blockchain-based marketplace. Figure itself contributed no collateral into the deal. 'Our goal is for the market to see us as predictable on the credit side as well as the issuance side. We're confident that we can be relied on as a steady, consistent, transparent issuer, which helps drive our appeal with our diverse investor base,' Stevens added. The underlying loans in this transaction leverage the Provenance Blockchain to enhance the efficiency and transparency of the underwriting process. FIGRE 2025-HE3 represents Figure's fourth HELOC securitization in 2025, underscoring the company's continued momentum in the market. Since the launch of Figure Connect in June 2024, investor participation has increased due to the platform's efficiency and yield advantages over traditional non-QM offerings. The recent joint venture with Sixth Street, committing over $2 billion in liquidity, further strengthens Figure's capacity to bridge traditional finance with innovative blockchain solutions. Figure continues to lead the market in blockchain-based securitizations with its end-to-end digital infrastructure driving faster execution and reduced costs, offering enhanced transparency for both issuers and investors. About Figure Technology Solutions Founded in 2018, Figure Technology Solutions ('Figure') is a blockchain–based technology platform built to enhance efficiency and transparency in financial services. Figure Connect is powered by the Provenance Blockchain, which onboards all of Figure's loans, and is the world's largest originator of Real World Assets. Its subsidiary, Figure Lending LLC, is the largest non-bank provider of home equity lines of credit; its software has been used to originate more than $15B of home equity. Figure's technology is embedded across a broad network of loan originators and capital markets buyers and is used directly as well by homeowners in all 50 states and Washington, DC. With Figure, homeowners can receive approval for a HELOC in as fast as five minutes and receive funding in as few as five days. To date, Figure has embedded its HELOC in more than 150 partners, including Rate (formerly Guaranteed Rate), CrossCountry Mortgage, Movement Mortgage, Goodleap, and many other fintechs, depositories, and independent mortgage banks. For more information, visit or follow Figure on LinkedIn.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Figure Technology Solutions Achieves Industry First with S&P AAA Ratings for Blockchain Assets
$355M securitization marks a major milestone in capital markets blockchain integration NEW YORK, June 12, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Figure Technology Solutions ("Figure"), a technology platform powering an efficient, liquid, blockchain-based marketplace for financial products, today announced its latest securitization of mortgage assets totaling $355 million. This transaction, FIGRE 2025-HE3, is a landmark achievement as the first of its kind to receive ratings from S&P Global Ratings across all six bond classes, ranging from AAA to B-. "This milestone is a significant validation of both our asset quality and the blockchain-backed ecosystem we are building," said Todd Stevens, Chief Capital Officer of Figure. "Securing AAA ratings from S&P reflects the growing confidence in blockchain infrastructure as a foundation for secure, efficient, and transparent financial products." Key Highlights of the Transaction: Investor Participation: More than 30 unique investors participated in the transaction, with large AAA investor participation. Participants included insurance companies, money managers, and credit funds. Oversubscription: All bond classes were oversubscribed during the sale process, reflecting strong market demand. Figure Connect: All of the collateral in the transaction was contributed by participants on Figure Connect – underscoring growing acceptance of our blockchain-based marketplace. Figure itself contributed no collateral into the deal. "Our goal is for the market to see us as predictable on the credit side as well as the issuance side. We're confident that we can be relied on as a steady, consistent, transparent issuer, which helps drive our appeal with our diverse investor base," Stevens added. The underlying loans in this transaction leverage the Provenance Blockchain to enhance the efficiency and transparency of the underwriting process. FIGRE 2025-HE3 represents Figure's fourth HELOC securitization in 2025, underscoring the company's continued momentum in the market. Since the launch of Figure Connect in June 2024, investor participation has increased due to the platform's efficiency and yield advantages over traditional non-QM offerings. The recent joint venture with Sixth Street, committing over $2 billion in liquidity, further strengthens Figure's capacity to bridge traditional finance with innovative blockchain solutions. Figure continues to lead the market in blockchain-based securitizations with its end-to-end digital infrastructure driving faster execution and reduced costs, offering enhanced transparency for both issuers and investors. About Figure Technology Solutions Founded in 2018, Figure Technology Solutions ("Figure") is a blockchain–based technology platform built to enhance efficiency and transparency in financial services. Figure Connect is powered by the Provenance Blockchain, which onboards all of Figure's loans, and is the world's largest originator of Real World Assets. Its subsidiary, Figure Lending LLC, is the largest non-bank provider of home equity lines of credit; its software has been used to originate more than $15B of home equity. Figure's technology is embedded across a broad network of loan originators and capital markets buyers and is used directly as well by homeowners in all 50 states and Washington, DC. With Figure, homeowners can receive approval for a HELOC in as fast as five minutes and receive funding in as few as five days. To date, Figure has embedded its HELOC in more than 150 partners, including Rate (formerly Guaranteed Rate), CrossCountry Mortgage, Movement Mortgage, Goodleap, and many other fintechs, depositories, and independent mortgage banks. For more information, visit or follow Figure on LinkedIn. View source version on Contacts press@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Figure AI CEO skips live demo, sidesteps BMW deal questions onstage at tech conference
Brett Adcock, co-founder and CEO of the humanoid robotics startup Figure AI, made a rare public appearance at the Bloomberg Tech conference on Thursday. Figure has recently been the subject of a couple news articles that questioned its progress with marquee customer BMW. Figure objected so strenuously to at least one of these reports that Adcock publicly threatened to sue the publication. When asked about the skepticism surrounding the BMW relationship and whether it is a pilot or has commercial value to the company, Adcock replied with an explanation of the technical benefit of having robots on a factory floor but didn't provide specifics about the contractual relationship with BMW. "We get a lot of value, and it's really important that we need to figure out how to run robots every day. We get to see how well they perform. We get to track all the metrics," he said. Two months ago, Figure also published a YouTube video showing a couple of its robots working in a BMW factory. Adcock did, however, say that Figure AI has signed a contract with a second, unnamed customer for initial deployment, a customer that Bloomberg has reported to be UPS. Figure AI has drawn attention for making claims that its AI-powered robots possess human-like fine motor skills and can manipulate objects with precision. Despite releasing numerous videos of its robots at work, the company hasn't done a live demonstration of the humanoids. The interviewer, Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow, pointed out that while two other robotics companies, Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics, showcased their robots at the conference, Figure AI did not. 'It kind of goes back to our whole philosophy around we don't go to a lot of events," said Adcock. "I think it's a giant waste of time. To be frank, I have to bring a team here to bring robots here. They could be at the office,' he said, adding that the company is showcasing the robots in videos. Adcock confirmed that Figure AI is expecting to manufacture and deploy roughly 100,000 units within four years. The skepticism about Figure's commercial relationship comes amid the company's attempts to raise a $1.5 billion round at a $39.5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg, a fifteenfold increase from the $2.6 billion valuation it achieved in February 2024. TechCrunch reported in April that Figure AI has been issuing cease-and-desist letters to secondary market brokers, demanding they stop marketing its shares because they are not authorized to do so. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
