OpenAI shifts to general-purpose AI models for direct robot control, abandoning the development of separate dedicated models.

According to a report by Fortune, OpenAI has disbanded its independent robotics research team and reassigned the team’s researchers to other departments within the company. OpenAI stated that the move is not an abandonment of its robotics business, but to accelerate the development of general-purpose robots. After the adjustment, robotics researchers will be merged into the core research team led by Chief Research Officer Mark Chen, while the applied robotics and hardware team will be transferred to the applications division overseen by President Greg Brockman. This restructuring reflects a shift in OpenAI’s strategic direction: the company holds that general-purpose AI models can now be directly applied to robot control, eliminating the need to develop separate dedicated robot AI models. OpenAI added that its frontier general models, including GPT-6 Astra, have demonstrated robotics application capabilities. A Nvidia study shows that agents equipped with Astra achieved a 74.8% success rate in simulated robot operation tests, outperforming the 51% previously recorded for dedicated robot models on the leaderboard. OpenAI still plans to develop humanoid robots; CEO Sam Altman previously announced a target to hold the first public demonstration in 2027. However, industry insiders point out that general-purpose models still face limitations such as slow operation speed and reliance on cloud networks, and traditional robotics enterprises retain advantages in real-world scenario deployment and data accumulation.