Figure CEO Brett Adcock has ended the company’s partnership with OpenAI, citing minimal value and strategic conflicts, and is now developing AI in-house to compete directly in the humanoid robotics market.
The alliance between Figure Robotics and OpenAI, once hailed as a powerhouse pairing in humanoid robotics, has officially dissolved. In a candid interview on “The Shawn Ryan Show,” Figure CEO Brett Adcock disclosed that the partnership, which began in early 2024, provided “very little” tangible value beyond brand association and ultimately faltered due to operational hurdles and OpenAI’s shift toward in-house robotics development.
This split signals a significant realignment in the competitive landscape for embodied AI. For developers and tech enthusiasts, it underscores a critical divergence in approach: OpenAI’s broad AI expertise versus the specialized, hardware-integrated AI required for robotics. Adcock’s decision to build AI internally reflects a growing trend among robotics firms to control their full stack, potentially accelerating innovation but also fragmenting the ecosystem.
To understand the implications, it’s essential to revisit the origins of this collaboration. In 2024, Figure secured a $675 million Series B funding round, with OpenAI co-leading the investment Business Insider. The accompanying collaboration agreement aimed to fuse OpenAI’s large language models with Figure’s humanoid robots, promising “next-generation AI models” for real-world tasks. The partnership seemed symbiotic: OpenAI gained a physical platform for its AI, while Figure leveraged cutting-edge software.
However, Adcock revealed that the reality was far from seamless. He identified three core issues that eroded the partnership’s effectiveness:
- Minimal Operational Support: Adcock struggled to engage OpenAI’s team in practical, on-site collaboration. “In robotics, you’ve got to run the robot, see how it does,” he said. “We just had a hard time getting them in the office.” This lack of hands-on involvement limited the partnership’s ability to iterate and improve robot performance in dynamic environments.
- Hiring Complications: The OpenAI brand inadvertently created a misconception among job candidates. Prospective hires often assumed Figure handled only robotics hardware while OpenAI supplied the AI models. Adcock had to repeatedly clarify that Figure maintained its own AI development team, yet the association hindered recruitment efforts for top AI talent.
- Strategic Divergence: As Figure’s internal AI team—comprising alums from Google DeepMind and other leading AI labs—made progress, OpenAI expressed interest in pursuing humanoid robotics independently. A pivotal call from OpenAI outlining their internal plans convinced Adcock that competition was inevitable. “I was just like, ‘This is over,'” he recounted, noting that continued information sharing risked benefiting a future competitor.
Adcock emphasized that his internal team, which includes experts from premier AI research labs, was “complete superstars” capable of driving innovation without external support. This confidence in in-house capabilities highlights a broader shift in robotics: companies are increasingly opting for vertical integration to maintain control over IP and development speed. For developers, this could mean more specialized, open-source frameworks from firms like Figure, as opposed to relying on generalized AI models from giants like OpenAI.
OpenAI’s move into robotics is not new. In January 2026, Business Insider reported that OpenAI established a robotics lab with approximately 100 data collectors focused on teaching a robotic arm household tasks Business Insider. Additionally, OpenAI has invested in the Norwegian-American robot maker 1X, signaling a sustained interest in physical AI Business Insider. These efforts suggest OpenAI is committed to a parallel path in robotics, directly challenging Figure’s market position.
The split has already sparked public rebuttals. OpenAI staffer Tao Xu reposted Adcock’s interview clip on X and claimed it was “not true,” though Xu’s role as a technical staff member since 2019 adds complexity to the narrative X. Adcock, however, stands by his assessment, framing the departure as a strategic necessity rather than a failure.
For the robotics industry, this development intensifies the race to commercialize humanoid robots. With Figure now fully independent in AI development, and OpenAI doubling down on its own robotics lab, the competition could drive faster advancements in machine learning for physical tasks. Developers may see more tailored AI solutions, but also potential fragmentation as proprietary systems diverge. Users might benefit from more capable robots, but interoperability could become a challenge if standards aren’t established.
Adcock’s critique also touches on a fundamental difference between chatbot AI and robotics AI. While OpenAI excels in conversational models, robotics requires real-time sensor integration, motor control, and environmental adaptation—domains where specialized, iterative development is key. This distinction could influence how other AI-robotics partnerships are structured, with a greater emphasis on co-located teams and shared engineering resources.
In the short term, Figure’s decision to go it alone means accelerating its AI roadmap without reliance on external partners. The company continues to advance its Figure 01 robot, and in-house AI could lead to more rapid deployments in logistics and manufacturing. For developers, this might open up new APIs or SDKs from Figure as it seeks to scale its software ecosystem independently.
The broader lesson for tech companies is clear: in high-stakes, hardware-intensive fields like robotics, partnerships must deliver operational synergy, not just brand prestige. Adcock’s experience suggests that without deep, collaborative integration, even well-funded alliances can dissolve under the pressure of competing strategic visions.
As the humanoid robotics sector heats up, with players like Tesla, Agility Robotics, and Apptronik also in the fray, Figure’s split from OpenAI marks a pivotal moment. It underscores that in the race to build intelligent machines, control over the full technology stack may be the ultimate competitive advantage.
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