The Anthropic-Physical Intelligence rumor roiling AI Twitter; plus, if you pay a hacker’s ransom, they’ll come back for more
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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It's been a big year for AI acquisitions, so big that most of them barely register anymore. Anthropic and OpenAI have each gone on buying sprees, snapping up developer tooling, AI services shops, and product testing startups to convert model capability into enterprise revenue and extend their reach faster than the other.
Why did rumors about Anthropic buying Physical Intelligence spread so fast on AI Twitter?
which is what made a weekend rumor about Anthropic acquiring robotics startup Physical Intelligence stand out. It spread exceedingly fast, even after a denial from Physical Intelligence's CEO. Part of that ties to who's involved. Physical intelligence is not some obscure robotics shop. It was co-founded by Lockheed Groom, an investor-operator whose star has been on the rise in Silicon Valley in recent years. It has raised more than $1 billion and was reportedly in talks this spring for another billion-dollar round at an $11 billion valuation.
What makes Physical Intelligence a high-profile acquisition target for Anthropic or OpenAI?
and the NO.5 model is apparently among the more widely used robot brains in robotics research. As it turns out, the rumor was not completely spurious. Anthropic and physical intelligence actually did hold acquisition talks this spring, according to the information. So, tech blogger Robert Scoble, whose weekend post on X set off the frenzy, may have gotten the specifics wrong without
Did Anthropic and Physical Intelligence actually hold acquisition talks this spring?
being wrong that something had happened. Physical Intelligence's response to the rumor mill was not the world's most vigorous denial, it should be noted. According to the information, Physical Intelligence CEO Carol Halsman told employees the reports were not true via a Slack message containing a GIF of a character from the office shaking her head no. Groom, for his part, did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment sent Monday night. Anthropic has made four known acquisitions this year. OpenAI has been more aggressive, acquiring at least 17 companies since 2023. Both are also, of course, now preparing to go public. Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO on June 1st, followed by OpenAI a week later, setting up what could be two of the largest U.S.
How could OpenAI’s investor ties to Physical Intelligence complicate a sale to Anthropic?
stock debuts in history. So, why robotics, and why now? Well, the likeliest answer is that physical world understanding may be a prerequisite for super-intelligent 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 and then shut the entire robotics group down in 2021. The team came back in 2024, quietly building a humanoid robotics lab in San Francisco before CEO Sam Altman made it official in late May, announcing OpenAI Robotics was hiring and describing a near-term focus on robots for infrastructure work with a personal robot for everyone as the long-term goal.
Why are big AI labs racing into robotics and what advantages would acquisitions provide?
Anthropic has not 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. That included Project Fetch last November, where Anthropic staff tested how much clod could help non-experts program a robot dog. and a second phase in June that, according to Anthropic, found a newer model completed the same tasks roughly 20 times faster than the best human plus clawed team from the year before. Buying an existing team with robotics expertise would let Anthropic skip years of work. There's a possible complication to that, though.
What does new research say about paying ransoms and repeat extortion by hackers?
Physical Intelligence was founded in San Francisco roughly two years ago by Groom, former Google researchers and professors from Stanford and Berkeley. And its early investors base looks a lot like OpenAI's own, including Coastal Ventures and Thrive Capital and Founder 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.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–1:05
2
Why did rumors about Anthropic buying Physical Intelligence spread so fast on AI Twitter?
1:05–1:44
3
What makes Physical Intelligence a high-profile acquisition target for Anthropic or OpenAI?
1:44–2:13
4
Did Anthropic and Physical Intelligence actually hold acquisition talks this spring?
2:13–3:03
5
How could OpenAI’s investor ties to Physical Intelligence complicate a sale to Anthropic?
3:03–3:54
6
Why are big AI labs racing into robotics and what advantages would acquisitions provide?
3:54–4:35
7
What does new research say about paying ransoms and repeat extortion by hackers?
4:35–8:36
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from TechCrunch Industry News
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