# Anthropic and Physical Intelligence Acquisition Rumors AI giants are competing in the robotics space. - **Source:** [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com) - **Published:** 2026-07-22 - **Topic:** [Data & AI](https://brifing.si/c/data-ai) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/fff73224-ac58-4d58-83a6-fa43c1c89c09 ## The AI Giants' Acquisition Race AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are rapidly making acquisitions to expand their capabilities. Recent rumors suggest Anthropic might acquire robotics startup Physical Intelligence. This news spread quickly despite a denial from Physical Intelligence's CEO. ## The Significance of Physical Intelligence Physical Intelligence was founded by Lachy Groom, a rising star in Silicon Valley. The company has raised over $1 billion and owns the π0.5 model, widely used in robotics research. It's no surprise that a giant like Anthropic is interested. ## The Origin of the Rumors According to The Information, Anthropic and Physical Intelligence held acquisition talks this spring. Tech blogger Robert Scoble's post on X fueled these rumors. Physical Intelligence CEO Karol Hausman denied the news in a Slack message to employees. ## OpenAI's Robotics Strategy OpenAI shut down its robotics group in 2021 but established a humanoid robotics lab in San Francisco in 2024. CEO Sam Altman announced 'OpenAI Robotics' will focus on infrastructure robots, with a long-term goal of personal robots for everyone. ## Anthropic's Robotics Plans Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic hasn't built a hardware lab. However, through projects like Project Fetch, it tested Claude's capabilities in robotic tasks. Acquiring a company like Physical Intelligence could save Anthropic years of development. ## The Future of AI and Robotics AI companies recognize that physical-world understanding is crucial for superintelligent systems. Investments by giants like OpenAI and Anthropic in robotics could signal future technological transformations. ## Sources covering this story - https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/21/the-anthropic-physical-intelligence-rumor-roiling-ai-twitter/ — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._