A startup that wants to put humanoid robots in warehouses around the world has an increasingly elite slate of big-name backers with deep pockets.Figure AI Inc. is raising about $675 million in funding with the help of investors like Jeff Bezos and the Microsoft Corporation, according to a Friday Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the situation.The artificial intelligence startup aims to create autonomous humanoid workers that can support labor shortages amid a waning workforce, the company’s website says.The machine, called Figure 01, is an AI-powered, self-reliant robot with the ability to think, learn, and interact safely alongside humans, according to the company. The robots will be tasked with performing dangerous warehouse jobs for which there aren’t enough workers.Other big backers include OpenAI, which once thought about acquiring Figure, according to Bloomberg, as well as Nvidia Corp., which just this week announced $22.1 billion of revenue in its fourth quarter, stunning analysts and the AI industry alike.Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has committed $100 million to Figure’s mission through his firm Explore Investments, LLC, Bloomberg reported, and Microsoft is investing $95 million.Nvidia and an Amazon.com-affiliated fund both pledged $50 million, and Intel Corp.’s investing arm is giving $25 million, according to the outlet; OpenAI has pledged $5 million.Figure had a pre-money valuation of about $2 billion, Bloomberg reported.News of Figure’s funding comes amid an AI boom as several companies, including Tesla, work on their own robots.
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