At Dreamforce 2025, Figure AI Founder and CEO Brett Adcock described his company’s mission in bold terms: building “a new species.” Backed by OpenAI, the robotics firm is pursuing humanoid machines that can learn, adapt, and eventually replicate—ideas that push robotics from industrial automation toward autonomous creation.
Adcock spoke of self-replicating robots capable of building and mining resources on other planets, referencing mathematician John von Neumann’s concept of self-reproducing machines. The statement reflects a growing confidence in robotics as both an engineering challenge and a philosophical frontier, where intelligence and mobility may evolve beyond human limits.
Figure AI’s ambition places it at the center of a rapidly intensifying race. Tesla’s Optimus project, OpenAI’s research ties, and competing startups like Diligent Robotics all signal a surge in investment toward human-assistive automation. Adcock’s approach—rooted in full humanoid design rather than task-specific utility—suggests a longer game: building machines that can coexist and collaborate with people across industries. Whether this vision leads to a “new species” or a more integrated workforce, Figure AI’s trajectory underscores how the next wave of entrepreneurship in robotics is as much about imagination as it is about hardware.
