Guten Morgen from Düsseldorf. It's day two of SportsInnovation 2024, which is destined to become an international "must attend" tech conference. Watching sports tech demonstrated live on the Fußball (soccer) pitch makes the demos next level. It's really fun! The tech on display here is absolutely cutting-edge.
In the news: Announced at NVIDIA's GTC conference, Project GR00T – named with a nod to the Marvel character – is focused on creating a foundational model for general-purpose humanoid robots. These robots, powered by NVIDIA's AI technology, are envisioned to learn and adapt to a wide range of tasks in real-time, a concept known as "embodied AGI." AGI (artificial general intelligence) is a loosely-defined term for AI that can learn and think as well as (or better than) humans.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang highlighted the project's potential to revolutionize robotics by providing AI models with a humanoid form. According to Huang, this form factor is not just a stylistic choice but a functional one, enabling robots to navigate and interact with the human-designed world more naturally. There's another reason, too: "In a way, human robotics is likely easier," said Huang. "The reason for that is because we have a lot more imitation training data that we can provide robots, because we are constructed in a very similar way."
NVIDIA is calling this a "moonshot" project, but from the partnerships they've formed and the investments they've made, it is very likely the Eagle will land. This leads me to today's question – humanoid robots: cool or creepy? Before you answer, have a look at this video from NVIDIA, then reply to this email and let me know if you land on the moon. -s
ABOUT SHELLY PALMER
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.
