ACE Robotics CEO says robot brains will have 'ChatGPT moment' in 2-3 years

Humanoid robot brains could see a breakthrough by late next year similar to the dramatic impact ChatGPT had on AI usage, the CEO of Chinese embodied AI startup ACE Robotics said on Friday.



While large language models such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek have become a staple in workplaces and households globally, AI models that allow a robot to smoothly complete a wide range of tasks in unfamiliar physical environments remain distant.



As more companies in China's fledgling humanoid robot industry seek funding and high valuations, investors are placing more importance on real-world deployment over activities such as dance or athletics to demonstrate their economic value.



Embodied AI models determine the intelligence and autonomous operation abilities of robots. Unlike large language models, these physical AI simulation systems are designed to help robots understand and navigate real-world environments in real time.



Wang Xingxing, the founder of China's Unitree, this week predicted that robot brains could see a dramatic breakthrough in two to three years at the earliest. He and other Chinese robotics CEOs have acknowledged that acquiring high-quality real-life training data for these models remains a bottleneck.