When it comes to achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), large language models justdon’thave what it takes. Models like ChatGPT and Claudeare great at text, butthey’reless skilled at understanding how thingsactually movethrough space and time—an essential skill for producing intelligence that generalizes. That gap, it turns out, might be filledbygaming data.That’sthe bet behind General Intuition, a Bezos-backed, New York-based startupvalued at$2.3 billionthat just closed a $320 million roundwith Coatue, Eric Schmidt, and researchers at MIT and Google DeepMind joining its list of investors.
On this episode of TechCrunch’sEquitypodcast, General Intuition CEO Pim de Witte joins Rebecca Bellan to dig into why world models trained on gaming data might be the next big leap in physical AI, how the company spun out of gaming platform Medal TV, and where the ethical red lines are when your models could end upbeing used for defense applications.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
- How eight minutes of real-world data was enough to get a robot navigating an office cold.
- Why General Intuition turned down an acquisition offerreportedly fromOpenAI to stay independent, and why havinginvestors whoback your mission is essential to building a generationalcompany.
- How the company is trying to get ahead of AI job displacement by building Nerve, a marketplace connecting gamers to data labeling and teleoperations work.
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Rebecca Bellan is a senior reporter at TechCrunch where she covers the business, policy, and emerging trends shaping artificial intelligence. Her work has also appeared in Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and other publications.
You can contact or verify outreach from Rebecca by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at rebeccabellan.491 on Signal.
Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University.
You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].