Humanoid robots should reach “ChatGPT moment” in “two to ten years”

Inspirated in the global impact of the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, the term “ChatGPT moment” is a metaphor used in the technological and business environment to describe the moment when an emerging technology reaches such a high level of maturity and accessibility that it becomes understood, adopted and massively recognized by the general public.

During a speech entitled ‘From product on display to commercial product: the next decade of humanoid robots’, delivered at the Beijing World Robotics Conference, Wang Xingxing considered that this ‘ChatGPT moment’ will be achieved when humanoid robots are able to complete about 80% of tasks in 80% of unknown environments by instructions.

Wang identified as the main obstacle the “limited capacity of generalization” of embedded intelligence, which refers to the integration of AI into physical systems.

In “fixed scenarios”, he explained, a trained model with sufficient data may approach 100% effectiveness, but its success rate “falls considerably” as soon as the objects you have to manipulate or the environment you work in change.

Wang, quoted by the local press, calculated that the jump may occur in two or three years in the fastest scenario, although it may also be delayed between five and ten years. In its view, the current acceleration of the AI may also cause the sector’s evolution to “overtake forecasts”.

Unitree concentrates most of the AI team on improving robot capacity to perform real tasks in homes and factories, and collaborates with car manufacturers to test them on production lines, according to the executive.

On Wednesday, the company starred in one of the most anticipated stock listings of recent times, becoming the first company in the sector to sell shares in a continental China market, namely Shanghai, where it raised the equivalent of 904 million dollars (765 million euros).

At the premiere, the shares multiplied by more than seven their opening value, giving the company an assessment of 66 billion dollars (55.9 billion euros) and Wang a fortune close to 16 billion dollars (13.5 billion euros) with only 36 years.

Finally, Unitree's bonds closed yesterday's day with a 460% rise, which today gave rise to a drop of more than 16% just before 11:30 (04:30 in Lisbon), due to the achievement of added value among investors who managed to acquire them – something that was not easy in the face of demand more than eight thousand times higher than the shares offered.

The World Conference on Robotics, which runs until Sunday, brings together more than three thousand products from more than 300 companies and has in humanoids one of the main highlights.