Artificial intelligence firm Skild AI has emerged from stealth mode, announcing the successful closure of a $300 million Series A funding round with contributions from Jeff Bezos and Softbank, among others.
A spinout from Carnegie Mellon, Skild AI focuses on creating an AI system called a “general-purpose brain,” which can be retrofitted to various machines and robotic devices.
According to a company blog post, the funding, which values the company at $1.5 billion, was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Coatue, SoftBank Group, and Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions). Additional participants included Felicis Ventures, Sequoia, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, CRV, Amazon, SV Angel, and Carnegie Mellon University.
Artificial intelligence brains
Skild AI has emerged as the latest unicorn in the AI space with the ambitious goal of developing an “artificial general intelligence” (AGI). It joins the ranks of OpenAI, Anthropic AI, xAI, and numerous other organizations aiming to create human-level AI.
However, AGI is a nebulous term without a clear scientific definition. There is no consensus among scientists or engineers on what distinguishes a powerful AI system from a true AGI system. Currently, AGI remains theoretical, with no evidence from the scientific method proving its fundamental possibility.
Beyond aiming to break the AGI barrier, Skild AI is also venturing into the field of robot operating systems. According to their blog post, the company’s long-term goal is to develop a modular artificial “brain” that can be retrofitted into any housing that meets its power and connectivity requirements. Specific details on how this product or service will be developed are still scarce.
The Jeff Bezos connection
The Series A funding announcement did not provide specifics about Skild AI’s roadmaps or partnerships. However, given Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s participation in the funding round, it’s plausible that they might collaborate with the company.
Other robotics companies, such as Boston Dynamics, which do not focus on creating human-level AI systems, could also be potential synergistic partners.
Speculatively, developing an AI brain will likely require massive infrastructure similar to that used for OpenAI’s ChatGPT and xAI’s Grok. This puts chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD at the forefront of Skild AI’s potential collaborators. Additionally, Amazon, with its extensive GPU cluster used for training its Bedrock AI system and its leading cloud services platform, Amazon Web Services, could play a significant role.