Anthropic discussed acquiring robotics software developer Physical Intelligence in the spring, TechCrunch reported, citing The Information.
The prospect of a deal resurfaced after a post by technology blogger Robert Scoble. Physical Intelligence CEO Karol Hausman told employees that reports of a current acquisition were untrue, according to the same report.
Physical Intelligence develops general-purpose models for controlling robots. The startup has raised more than $1 billion and was in talks this spring to secure another $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation.
Anthropic does not operate its own hardware lab, but it has studied how Claude can be used in robotics. In Project Fetch, the model helped people without specialist training program a robot dog.
Neither company has announced an agreement, and the spring discussions do not establish that negotiations are continuing. The reporting therefore concerns earlier talks, not a completed acquisition.
