A weekend social-media post sparked fast-moving rumors that Anthropic was acquiring robotics startup Physical Intelligence. The Information reported that the two companies did hold acquisition talks this spring, so while the viral post by tech blogger Robert Scoble may have misstated details, it appears it was not wholly baseless. The rumors spread quickly after Scoble’s X post.
Who is Physical Intelligence and why it matters
Physical Intelligence is a high-profile robotics startup co-founded by Lachy Groom, whose prominence in Silicon Valley has grown in recent years. The company has raised more than $1 billion to date and was reportedly in talks this spring for another $1 billion financing round at an $11 billion valuation. Its π0.5 model is described in reports as one of the more widely used robot "brains" in robotics research.
Founders include former Google researchers and professors from Stanford and Berkeley. Early investors listed in reporting include Khosla Ventures and Thrive Capital; The Information also reported that Founders Fund took part in the company’s latest round. Notably, OpenAI is also an investor in Physical Intelligence, making it a stakeholder rather than an uninvolved third party.
The company’s response and public signals
Physical Intelligence’s public reaction was muted. According to The Information, CEO Karol Hausman told employees via Slack that the reports were not true, sending a message that included a gif from the TV show The Office shaking its head. Lachy Groom did not respond to a TechCrunch request for comment sent Monday night.
Why major AI labs are chasing robotics teams
A key reason both Anthropic and OpenAI are interested in robotics is that understanding the physical world may be a prerequisite for more general or superintelligent systems — something that internet text alone cannot provide. OpenAI’s own robotics history illustrates the challenge: it built an early robot hand capable of solving a Rubik’s Cube, then shuttered the entire robotics group in 2021; co-founder Wojciech Zaremba later said the approach lacked elements necessary for real progress. The robotics effort returned in 2024, with a quiet humanoid lab in San Francisco, and CEO Sam Altman made OpenAI Robotics public in late May, describing short-term aims on infrastructure work and a long-term goal of a personal robot for everyone.
Anthropic has not built a large hardware lab like OpenAI’s, but its internal research group has published work stress-testing frontier capabilities for safety. That included Project Fetch in November, where Anthropic staff tested how much Claude could help non-experts program a robot dog, and a second phase in June that Anthropic says found a newer model completed the same tasks roughly 20 times faster than the best human-plus-Claude team from the prior year.
Acquiring an existing robotics team would let Anthropic skip years of engineering work, but the situation is complicated by ownership and investor overlaps.
Investor overlap raises strategic and legal questions
Because Physical Intelligence’s early backers resemble OpenAI’s investor base, and because OpenAI itself is an investor, the potential acquisition raises questions about information rights or rights of first refusal that strategic investors sometimes negotiate. If such rights exist, OpenAI — already a shareholder and closely connected to Lachy Groom — might have a stronger claim than Anthropic to any sale of Physical Intelligence.
We asked OpenAI about these questions earlier and had not received a response by the time of publication.
Context: acquisition pace and IPO plans
The episode comes amid a broader flurry of deals in the AI sector. Anthropic has made four known acquisitions this year; OpenAI has acquired at least 17 companies since 2023. Both firms are also preparing to go public: Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO on June 1, and OpenAI filed a week later, moves that could lead to two of the largest U.S. stock debuts in history.
Why this matters
The talks between Anthropic and Physical Intelligence highlight that robotica and physical-system expertise are now strategic assets for leading AI labs. Buying teams with operational experience, existing models, and investor support can accelerate a company’s entry into the physical world — but ownership links and investor protections can complicate or block such deals, adding another layer to the competitive dynamics as these companies prepare for public markets.
Author’s note: this article relies on available reporting and public information and does not assert unverified claims.
