Recent developments in humanoid robotics and AGI research
Tesla has commenced mass production of Optimus Gen 3, with over 1,000 units now operating in Tesla factories. The robot demonstrates 3,000+ discrete task capabilities and features upgraded 22 DOF hands with tactile sensors.
Figure AI closed a $1B+ Series C round, valuing the company at $39 billion. The company unveiled Figure 03, designed specifically for home environments with safety-focused soft materials and wireless charging.
Gemini Deep Think solved 5 of 6 problems at the International Mathematical Olympiad, achieving a gold-medal level score of 35 points. This marks the first time an AI has achieved this feat end-to-end in natural language.
Prohibitions on "unacceptable risk" AI systems including social scoring, predictive policing based on profiling, and certain biometric identification systems became legally binding across the European Union.
At the 2026 World Economic Forum, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated that AGI-level systems are approaching in the near term, possibly within a few years, placing his prediction around 2027.
Boston Dynamics announced that all 2026 deployments of the new electric Atlas are committed, with initial fleets going to Hyundai RMAC and Google DeepMind. Hyundai plans to deploy tens of thousands for manufacturing.
1X Technologies began accepting pre-orders for NEO, their consumer-focused humanoid robot priced at $20,000 plus a $499/month subscription. US shipments are expected in 2026.
xAI released Grok 4.1 featuring 2.7 trillion parameters, conversational intelligence, emotional understanding, and 3x fewer hallucinations. The model is now free to all users.
The International Institute for Management Development moved the AI Safety Clock to 20 minutes to midnight, down from 24 minutes in February 2025, reflecting growing concerns about AI development pace.
OpenAIs o3 model achieved 87.5% on the ARC-AGI benchmark, surpassing human-level performance (85%) for the first time. This represents a qualitative leap in AI's ability to adapt to novel tasks.