Researchers Pivot From Chatbots to Physical AI and World Models
Researchers and investors are backing embodied AI and simulated worlds as a faster path to robots that can adapt to real environments.
- Computer scientist Louis Castricato is shifting focus from large language models to "world models," launching Overworld last year to build AI that navigates and interacts with physical environments rather than just processing text.
- Chatbots fail to interact with physical objects like a coffee mug, lacking understanding of geometry and dynamic movement. World models learn the statistical structure of space and time, including how objects respond to force and follow physical laws.
- In a recent essay, Fei-Fei Li categorizes world models into three types: "renderers" that prioritize visual fidelity, "simulators" that create physical training grounds, and "planners" that predict agent actions in unstructured worlds.
- Venture capitalist Steve Jang's Kindred Ventures is funding this transition, investing in Overworld, Causal Labs, and Extropic to support diverse model architectures rather than relying on one dominant system.
- AI pioneer Yann LeCun views world models as enabling an agent "to predict the consequences of its own actions," positioning the technology as a faster path to achieving "Physical AI.
54 Articles
54 Articles
Top developers are shifting from chatbots to physical AI. Here’s why
Computer scientist Louis Castricato was in his eighth year studying large language models—the artificial intelligence technology behind chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude—when he started to feel like he was hitting a dead end.“We basically have passed the point of doing real fundamental LLM research,” Castricato said. “Now it’s just applications.”The researcher quit his doctoral studies at Brown University and started a new company, called Overwor…
Tech entrepreneurs pivoting from chatbots to 'world models'
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Computer scientist Louis Castricato was in his eighth year studying large language models — the artificial intelligence technology behind chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude — when he started to feel like he was hitting a dead end.
Daily Journal
Top developers are pivoting from chatbots to physical AI
AI "world models" are the next frontier for computer scientists who see too many limitations in the AI language models behind popular chatbots. The field is attracting top scientists like “Godmother of AI” Fei-Fei Li and Yann LeCun. They believe…
'Godmother of AI' and tech entrepreneurs draw investors by pivoting from chatbots to 'world models' saying AI has to read the room, not just books
Computer scientist Louis Castricato was in his eighth year studying large language models — the artificial intelligence technology behind chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude — when he started to feel like he was hitting a dead end. “We basically have passed the point of doing real fundamental LLM research,” Castricato said. “Now it’s just applications.” The researcher quit his doctoral studies at Brown University and started a new company, called O…
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