SAN FRANCISCO — January 2026 — OpenAI has announced a new investment in Merge Labs, supporting the lab’s work at the intersection of artificial intelligence, human movement, and robotics.

Merge Labs focuses on understanding how humans move, sense, and interact with the physical world, and translating those insights into AI systems that can operate more naturally in real-world environments. OpenAI said the investment aligns with its broader goal of building AI that can reason, learn, and act safely alongside people.

The partnership is centered on long-term research rather than near-term products. Merge Labs combines expertise in neuroscience, biomechanics, robotics, and machine learning to study movement and embodiment at a fundamental level. This research can inform the development of AI systems that better understand physical context, coordination, and human intent.

OpenAI said supporting independent research labs like Merge is an important part of advancing foundational AI capabilities. By investing early in deep scientific work, the company aims to help unlock new approaches to embodied intelligence that could eventually benefit robotics, assistive technologies, and interactive AI systems.

Merge Labs will continue to operate independently, using the funding to expand its research team, infrastructure, and experimental capabilities. OpenAI said it will collaborate with the lab through knowledge sharing and research exchange, while allowing Merge to pursue its own scientific direction.

The investment reflects OpenAI’s growing interest in the physical world as a frontier for AI, complementing its work on language, reasoning, and multimodal systems. As AI systems increasingly move beyond screens and into real environments, understanding human movement and interaction is becoming a critical piece of the puzzle.