Robotics will have a ChatGPT moment in the next 2 or 3 years, says Vinod Khosla
In an episode of the "Uncapped" podcast published on Tuesday, the billionaire venture capitalist predicted that robots that don't need to be programmed would be available in a few years. The 70-year-old VC's notable investments include OpenAI, DoorDash, Block, and Impossible Foods.
"Robotics will take a little longer, but I think we'll have the ChatGPT moment in the next two to three years," he said.
Khosla said that these robots will most likely be humanoid. He said there will be enough demand for them to lower costs.
"Almost everybody in the 2030s will have a humanoid robot at home," he said. "Probably start with something narrow like do your cooking for you. It can chop vegetables, cook food, clean dishes, but stays within the kitchen environment."
He estimated that these robots would cost $300 to $400 a month, which would be affordable for anyone who already gets house help.
Khosla said that some robots already exist and those made by Chinese companies are "pretty damn amazing," but they come with a big drawback.
"They're not learning robots. You change the environment and they don't do as well," he said. "If you walk a human in here and say clean up, they'll know what to do. A robot needs to do that."
In response to a question about why a hardware company like Apple has not already built a robot like this, Khosla said innovation has rarely come from large incumbents. Uber, for example, did not come from Hertz, nor was Netflix a product of major networks.
Several tech leaders have said they are making big bets on robotics and physical AI.
Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, has been vocal about a future dominated by physical AI, where robots will play a significant role in both industries and daily life.
"I love the idea that I'll have my own R2-D2, my own C-3PO — my R2 will be following me, and for many people just growing up now, they'll have their own personal R2 with them for their lives," he said in September.
Last week, at the company's annual investor meeting, Huang said that AI and robotics are one of the biggest growth areas for the chipmaker. They represent "a multitrillion-dollar growth opportunity."
He added that autonomous vehicles, which he said will be the first commercial application of robotics, are a big focus for Nvidia.
On Monday, Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, said robotics represent a growth area for head count.
"We're going to hire more people in AI and more people in robotics," he said in an interview with CNBC.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
OpenAI Employee Share Sale Could Value Firm at $500 Billion
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft (MSFT, Financials), is in early talks for an employee share sale that could value the artificial intelligence firm at about $500 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. The deal would let current and former employees sell several billion dollars' worth of shares ahead of a possible initial public offering; it would mark a significant increase from OpenAI's current $300 billion valuation. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with MSFT. The company's flagship product, ChatGPT, has driven rapid growth; revenue doubled in the first seven months of the year to an annualized $12 billion and is expected to reach $20 billion by year-end, according to the source. Weekly active users climbed to about 700 million from 400 million in February. The proposed sale follows a $40 billion primary funding round earlier this year, led by SoftBank Group, which committed $22.5 billion to the round; the rest of the funding was raised at a $300 billion valuation. Existing investors, including Thrive Capital, are in talks to participate in the share sale. The transaction would come as competition for AI talent intensifies; tech giants like Meta Platforms (META, Financials) are making multibillion-dollar investments to poach executives and researchers. Private firms such as ByteDance, Databricks and Ramp have also used secondary share sales to refresh valuations and reward long-term employees. OpenAI is planning a corporate restructuring to move away from its capped-profit model, which could pave the way for a future IPO; the company has said an offering would come only when market conditions are right. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
OpenAI's $500 Billion Power Play: Is This the Hottest Deal in Tech Right Now?
OpenAI is weighing a massive secondary stock sale that could push its valuation to around $500 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal still in early discussions would allow current and former employees to cash out some of their shares, with existing investors like Thrive Capital reportedly circling. If completed, this would mark a roughly 67% jump from OpenAI's previous $300 billion valuation tied to a $40 billion raise, one of the largest in private tech history. The move isn't just about rewarding staff it's also a strategic play to retain top talent in the face of fierce poaching from rivals like Meta, which has dangled nine-figure packages to lure researchers away. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with MSFT. The timing is no coincidence. OpenAI recently secured $8.3 billion in a second tranche of that same $40 billion round, which one source said was oversubscribed by about five times. This fresh capital comes as the company doubles down on product and platform expansion. ChatGPT usage is climbing fast reportedly hitting 700 million weekly active users while the app now processes over 3 billion messages per day. OpenAI is also preparing its next major release, GPT-5, which is undergoing internal testing. While no official launch date has been announced, the model is expected to reinforce OpenAI's lead amid growing competition. On the hardware front, the company is moving ahead with a nearly $6.5 billion all-stock acquisition of a device startup co-founded by Apple design veteran Jony Ive. But the company isn't without friction points. Key investors are still in discussions over how OpenAI should be structured going forward including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which has poured in more than $13 billion. At the heart of those talks is Microsoft's stake and long-term access to OpenAI's tech, with the current deal set to run through 2030. As OpenAI races to define its next chapter spanning AI platforms, consumer hardware, and employee retention investors are left with a familiar question: how much more upside is still on the table? This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Melden Sie sich an, um Ihr Portfolio aufzurufen.
The Hill
11 minutes ago
- The Hill
Meta bans millions of WhatsApp accounts linked to scam operations
Meta took down 6.8 million WhatsApp accounts tied to scam operations on Tuesday after victims reported financial fraud schemes. The company said many of the scam sources were based in Southeast Asia at criminal scam centers. 'Based on our investigative insights into the latest enforcement efforts, we proactively detected and took down accounts before scam centers were able to operationalize them,' Meta said in a Tuesday release. 'These scam centers typically run many scam campaigns at once — from cryptocurrency investments to pyramid schemes. There is always a catch and it should be a red flag for everyone: you have to pay upfront to get promised returns or earnings,' they wrote. In an effort to ensure users are protected, the company said it would flag when people were added to group messages by someone who isn't in their contact list and urge individuals to pause before engaging with unfamiliar messages where they're encouraged to communicate on other social platforms. 'Scams may start with a text message or on a dating app, then move to social media, private messaging apps and ultimately payment or crypto platforms,' Meta said. 'In the course of just one scam, they often try to cycle people through many different platforms to ensure that any one service has only a limited view into the entire scam, making it more challenging to detect,' the company added. The Tuesday release highlighted an incident with Cambodian users urging people to enlist in a rent a scooter pyramid scheme with an initial text message generated by ChatGPT. The message contained a link to a WhatsApp chat which redirected the target to Telegram where they were told to like TikTok videos. 'We banned ChatGPT accounts that were generating short recruitment-style messages in English, Spanish, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, German, and Haitian Creole. These messages offered recipients high salaries for trivial tasks — such as liking social media posts — and encouraged them to recruit others,' OpenAI wrote in their June report focused on disrupting malicious artificial intelligence efforts. 'The operation appeared highly centralized and likely originated from Cambodia. Using AI-powered translation tools, we were able to investigate and disrupt the campaign's use of OpenAI services swiftly,' the company added. The Federal Trade Commission has reported a steady increase in social media fraud. The agency said more money was reported lost to fraud originating on social media than any other method of contact from January 2021 to June 2023 — with losses totaling $2.7 billion.
