The promise of physical AI

A PAIR of swivelling, human-like robotic arms, built for physical artificial intelligence research, mirror the motions of an operator in a VR headset twirling his hands like a magician.

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With enough practice, arms like these can complete everyday tasks alone, claims Tokyo company Enactic, which is developing humanoid robots to wash dishes and do laundry in short-staffed Japanese care homes.

Welcome to the future of AI as it starts to infiltrate the material world in the form of smart robots, self-driving cars and other autonomous machines.

"The next wave of AI is physical AI," Jensen Huang, head of US chip giant Nvidia, said last year.

That's "AI that understands the laws of physics, AI that can work among us" and understands "how to perceive the world", Huang added.

Tech firms are pouring massive sums into physical AI, and Morgan Stanley predicts the world could have more than a billion humanoid robots by 2050.

The buzz is only heightened by videos showing advanced androids, often Chinese-made, dancing to Taylor Swift or pulling heavy objects with ease.

Beyond the promise of sci-fi robot butlers, the race has sparked concern over job losses, privacy and how long these innovations will take to actually be useful.

Hiro Yamamoto is the 24-year-old CEO of Enactic, whose OpenArm physical AI training devices are used by Nvidia and at top universities such as Stanford.