XPeng held a special event at its headquarters in Guangzhou, China, this week, showcasing its transformation from an electric vehicle maker to something much more ambitious involving humanoid robots, robotaxis, and flying cars — all powered by its advanced AI model and proprietary chips.
Highlighting its new focus on integrating AI with real-world mobility and robotics, the company unveiled the latest version of its humanoid robot, called Iron.
And that’s where things got interesting.
Iron’s ability to walk just like a human had many in the audience, as well as those watching a livestream of the event at home, wondering if it was actually a human inside. After all, many of you will recall that when Tesla chief Elon Musk unveiled the automaker’s Optimus robot in 2021, it was actually someone wearing a tight-fitting bodysuit.
And so, keen to dispel any rumors that XPeng was trying to pull a fast one in the style of Tesla, CEO He Xiaopeng brought Iron back onto the stage to show that Iron was indeed a humanoid robot and not a person in a bodysuit.
They did this by getting an engineer to carefully cut away the fabric and padding materials surrounding Iron’s left leg, eventually revealing a robotic leg.
Once again, with its metal innards exposed, Iron walked across the stage in a very human-like way. It’s an extraordinary sight, and anyone with a nervous disposition may shudder at the spectacle of the bipedal bot strolling along in such a realistic way.
XPENG’s next-gen IRON robot effectively crossed the uncanny valley, leading many to believe it was a human in a suit.
In a follow-up event to prove it was a robot, He Xiaopeng had its leg skin cut open in front of a live audience. The robot then walked off the stage. pic.twitter.com/CNF5loZyaf
XPeng is competing with a slew of other makers of humanoid robots, which could eventually be deployed in the workplace and even in home settings.
According to XPeng, Iron could one day find itself helping visitors in museums, car showrooms, shopping centers, and of course XPeng’s own retail stores. Placement in factories for inspection roles is also on the cards.
The company says it’s targeting mass production of Iron by the end of next year.
Anthropic has officially filed to go public, and buried inside its S-1 is a blunt warning about the technology at the center of its business. The maker of Claude AI says advanced AI could cause everything from large-scale cyberattacks and geopolitical instability to catastrophic or even existential risks for humanity.
The warnings take up a surprisingly large part of the filing. Axios notes that more than 90 pages, or roughly a third of the prospectus, focus on risk factors. Many of them warn about what could happen as AI systems become more capable and autonomous.
AI giants have a growing autonomy problem on their hands. A new Axios report has revealed that Anthropic's Claude recently accessed publicly available Georgia vote count without human authorization, sparking fresh concerns about AI security ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911