Artificial intelligence is moving beyond digital software toward embodied systems capable of creating and operating physical objects from imagination [1].
This shift represents a fundamental change in how AI interacts with the world. While previous developments focused on text and image generation, the current frontier involves the tangible deployment of AI in manufacturing and robotics to solve real-world problems.
Alexander Reben, an entrepreneur and cofounder of Phyzify, said these developments in Fast Company’s "Adventures in AI" video series [1]. Reben said AI tools can bridge the gap between a digital concept and a physical object. This transition toward physical AI allows systems to act directly in the real world rather than remaining confined to a screen [2].
Industry efforts to integrate these technologies have accelerated. Some reports indicate that companies have spent the past two years attempting to add AI to their internal processes [3]. This corporate push coincides with a broader movement toward what some describe as a computing revolution centered on embodied AI [4].
Hardware developments are supporting this transition. NVIDIA introduced Cosmos 3 Edge to provide on-device vision reasoning, a tool designed to advance the physical AI frontier [5]. Such technology enables robots and manufacturing systems to perceive and react to their environments in real time.
There is ongoing debate regarding the exact nature of the next AI frontier. Some perspectives suggest the primary goal is the "optimizable company" [3], while others argue the revolution lies in humanoid robots working alongside humans, or broader physical systems that act in the real world [4, 6]. Regardless of the specific application, the trajectory moves away from purely virtual assistants toward machines that can manufacture and manipulate matter.
“AI is moving beyond digital software toward embodied systems capable of creating and operating physical objects.”
The transition to embodied AI signifies a shift from generative AI as a productivity tool to AI as an industrial tool. By integrating vision reasoning and robotic control, the technology moves from predicting the next word in a sentence to predicting and executing physical movements. This could fundamentally alter supply chains and manufacturing by reducing the gap between design and production.
