A weekend rumor that Anthropic was acquiring robotics startup Physical Intelligence spread rapidly on X, fueled by tech blogger Robert Scoble, despite a denial from Physical Intelligence CEO Karol Hausman.

The rumor had actual basis: Anthropic and Physical Intelligence held acquisition talks this spring, according to The Information.

Physical Intelligence is a notable startup—co-founded by investor-operator Lachy Groom, it has raised over $1 billion and its π0.5 model is widely used in robotics research.

Hausman’s denial was a Slack message with a gif, not a forceful statement.

The rumor surfaces amid a flurry of AI acquisitions: Anthropic has made four known acquisitions this year; OpenAI at least 17 since 2023. Both companies are preparing for IPOs.

The strategic rationale for robotics is that physical-world understanding may be a prerequisite for superintelligence, and internet text alone is insufficient.

OpenAI‘s own robotics journey—from an early robotic hand to shutting down the group in 2021 to restarting in 2024 with a humanoid robotics lab—underscores the importance.

Anthropic has focused on safety research, including Project Fetch where Claude helped program a robot dog, and a June 2024 phase where a newer model completed tasks roughly 20 times faster than the best human-plus-Claude team from the year before.

Acquiring Physical Intelligence would let Anthropic skip years of robotics development.

However, there’s a complication: OpenAI is itself an investor in Physical Intelligence, alongside overlapping investors like Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Founders Fund.

This raises questions about information rights or a right of first refusal over a sale to a competitor.

If Physical Intelligence is for sale, OpenAI as an existing shareholder may have a more obvious claim than Anthropic. OpenAI did not respond to questions about this.