What is physical AI?

How it works

A chatbot produces text or images. A physical AI system has to turn readings from cameras and other sensors into movement. The chipmaker Nvidia describes physical AI as what lets robots, self-driving cars and camera systems perceive, reason and act. It says models trained on text and images have a limited grasp of physical rules. Nvidia says machines can learn skills in simulation through thousands or even millions of trial-and-error attempts before working in the real world.

The Associated Press covered the CES trade show in January 2026. It called physical AI Nvidia's term for AI models that learn in a virtual environment from computer-generated data and are then put to work in physical machines.

Where the term comes from

The phrase has been used in different ways. In November 2020, Aslan Miriyev and Mirko Kovac of Imperial College London and the Swiss materials science institute Empa used "Physical AI" in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence. They meant lifelike robots that look and act like humans or other animals and have the kind of intelligence associated with living things. Imperial said the article defined the term for the first time. The authors argued that building such robots needs combined training in materials science, mechanical engineering, computer science, biology and chemistry. Scientific American used the phrase in its CES 2026 coverage for automated machines that lift, drive and carry in spaces shared with people.

Where things stand in 2026

At CES in January 2026, Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics gave what the AP called the first public demonstration of its Atlas humanoid robot. The company said a version meant for car assembly was already being produced, with deployment planned by 2028 at Hyundai's electric vehicle factory near Savannah, Georgia. Scientific American reported doubts there. One panelist warned that AI errors can be disastrous once a machine is in motion. An attendee likened the trend to the Internet of Things wave of 2010.

The International Federation of Robotics issued a May 2026 statement on China's 15th Five-Year Plan. It said capabilities in real production settings were limited to demonstrators or pilot projects, despite staged showcases of humanoid robots. It said mass adoption as general-purpose humanoid factory helpers or in private households would not happen in the near or medium term. In September 2026 the federation reported that about 7,000 full-size humanoid robots were sold worldwide in 2025.