Figure AI is changing course on one of the most visible partnerships in humanoid robotics. The company says it is leaving its deal with OpenAI and shifting its attention to in-house AI after what it described as a “major breakthrough.”
The move puts a clear stake in the ground: for Figure, the path to a useful general-purpose humanoid robot now depends less on borrowing broad AI models and more on building systems designed around its own hardware.
A high-profile partnership changes direction
Figure announced Tuesday on X that it is exiting its agreement with OpenAI. The Bay Area-based robotics company has been working toward a general-purpose humanoid robot for commercial and residential use, and OpenAI has been a longtime investor in the company.
The two companies announced a deal last year to “develop next generation AI models for humanoid robots.” At the same time, Figure announced a $675 million raise that valued the company at $2.6 billion. Figure has raised a total of $1.5 billion from investors.
That context makes the split notable. OpenAI has enormous visibility, and association with the company can quickly raise a startup’s profile. In August, Figure and OpenAI announced that the Figure 02 humanoid would use OpenAI models for natural language communication.
Now Figure is choosing a different route. Founder and CEO Brett Adcock did not share many specifics with TechCrunch after the announcement, but he said the company would deliver “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid” in the next 30 days.
Why integration is the core issue
According to Adcock, the problem with the collaboration came down to integration. OpenAI has broad AI models and a wide set of priorities. Figure’s challenge is narrower and more physical: making artificial intelligence work inside a robot that must operate in the real world.
That field is often described as embodied AI, because the intelligence is tied to a physical machine. In this case, the software has to work with sensors, movement, hardware constraints and the specific tasks a humanoid robot is expected to perform.
Adcock’s argument is that this kind of system cannot be treated as a general software layer added on top of a robot. He told TechCrunch, “We found that to solve embodied AI at scale in the real world, you have to vertically integrate robot AI.” He added, “We can’t outsource AI for the same reason we can’t outsource our hardware.”
That is the clearest explanation of Figure’s strategy. The company wants AI development to sit inside the same product loop as the robot itself. If the model and the machine are built together, Figure believes the system can be tuned more directly to the hardware it must control.
What this says about the humanoid robot market
The decision also highlights a broader tension in humanoid robotics. Partnerships remain common, but many companies are also building their own bespoke AI models to different degrees. The reason is straightforward: a humanoid robot is not just a chatbot with legs. The AI has to translate understanding into action.
OpenAI has not placed all of its humanoid robotics attention on Figure. The company is also a major backer of the Norwegian robotics startup 1X. While many humanoid companies are focused on warehouses and factories, 1X has shifted much of its focus to the home.
Figure has also looked at home use. At its Sunnyvale office last September, Adcock told TechCrunch that the company was exploring the use of its systems in a home setting. But that is not Figure’s main priority for now.
The company’s near-term commercial opportunity appears to be industrial. Automakers have deeper pockets than individual consumers when it comes to testing new technology, and BMW announced last year that it had begun deploying Figure robots at a South Carolina factory.
OpenAI may be exploring hardware too
The timing of the split is interesting for another reason. On Friday, OpenAI filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office involving humanoids. The filing text references “user-programmable humanoid robots” and “humanoid robots having communication and learning functions for assisting and entertaining people.”
Trademark filings do not prove that a product is coming. Still, the filing and Figure’s announcement arrived less than a week apart, which makes the overlap difficult to ignore.
For Figure, the funding it has raised gives it room to attempt a more vertically integrated approach. The company has expanded both its hardware and software teams and recently moved into a larger Bay Area office to fit its growing staff.
That does not make the in-house route easy. Proprietary software can work especially well when it is built tightly around a company’s own hardware, but that approach is difficult and resource intensive. Figure is betting that the payoff is worth the effort.
The next test is what Figure actually shows
The key question now is whether Figure’s internal AI work can produce a visible leap in humanoid robot capability. Adcock’s promise of a reveal in the next 30 days raises expectations, but the details remain unknown.
The company’s choice is still clear. Figure is moving away from relying on OpenAI models for its humanoid robot strategy and toward end-to-end robot AI built for its own machines. In a market where both software intelligence and physical execution matter, that is a major product decision.
TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for comment.