Part 2: What’s Next for Physical AI
From Perception to Purpose
If the last decade of artificial intelligence was about teaching machines to think, the next one will be about teaching them to act — and to learn from those actions.
At the F50 Physical AI Summit at Snowflake’s Silicon Valley AI Hub, it became clear that the next great leap in technology won’t happen on our screens — it will happen in the world around us. AI is stepping off the page and into reality: into robots, vehicles, and systems that perceive, reason, and move with intent.
So what comes next? From Perception to Purpose
Today’s Physical AI systems — the ones combining perception, cognition, and action — are learning fast. They’re starting to understand not just what is around them, but why it matters. The next phase is purpose: embedding intent into machines that adapt to unstructured environments, make safe decisions on the fly, and collaborate with humans as teammates rather than tools.
To get there, we’ll need not only better sensors and models, but a new kind of training data — grounded in the physical world.
Specialization Over Spectacle
It’s easy to focus on humanoids — they make great headlines — but the real revolution is happening in specialized systems: agricultural bots, warehouse sorters, medical assistants, and construction co-bots.
These are already solving real-world labor gaps, extending human capability rather than replacing it. Physical AI isn’t about displacement; it’s about redistribution — moving human energy to where it’s most creative and most human.
As one speaker at F50 put it: “General-purpose humanoids are exciting — but specialized robots are changing industries right now.”
The Cognitive Breakthrough
And then there’s what’s coming next. As Robert Scoble said after one demo, “Autodesk is f*ed.” He was reacting to Brayden Levangie, a 20-year-old founder rethinking AI’s very foundations.
While most AI systems are stuck in the chat paradigm — predicting the next token — Brayden’s Cognitive Architecture aims higher. It’s designed for autonomy, not conversation. His model adds layers of episodic memory and self-evolving code, enabling systems to reason, retain, and improve.
In a live demo, his system read an architectural RFP, designed a skyscraper, evaluated 3D tools, found them lacking — and built its own visualization engine in 20 minutes.
This isn’t about replacing humans. Brayden describes his vision as making people “creative directors” — humans at the helm of increasingly capable AI systems. It’s an early glimpse of where Physical and Cognitive AI may soon converge.
Data as Experience
To build truly adaptive AI, we’ll need a new form of data — experiential data. Not just text and images, but data about motion, resistance, force, and reaction.
This is how systems learn as humans do: through trial, error, and sensory understanding. It’s also how organizations can capture their most valuable knowledge — the embodied expertise of their people — before it’s lost to time or turnover.
The Human Role
The anxiety about jobs isn’t going away. But research from the Economic Innovation Group (“AI and Jobs: The Final Word — Until the Next One”) shows that the occupations most exposed to AI are not seeing higher unemployment. If anything, those roles are evolving faster.
The future of work isn’t automation — it’s augmentation. Humans will shift from doing to directing, from repetitive ex
ecution to creative orchestration. Machines will handle the motion; humans will handle the meaning. As my friends at AI training leading firm @LearnAir / https://www.neesh.ai/ reminds us: Don’t forget the Human Part.
(Major Hat Tip from insights gleaned from Jeremiah Owyang of Blitzscaling Ventures, Lu Zhang of Fusion Fund, Bill Reichert of Pegasus Ventures and more.)
So what’s next for Physical AI?
More autonomy, less interface. Systems that act, not just answer.
More embodiment, less abstraction. Machines that learn by doing.
More collaboration, less replacement. Humans in the loop — by design.
This is the beginning of intelligence with presence — cognition you can bump into, talk to, and build with.
We’re not just training models anymore. We’re training a new kind of world.
Friends: How do we make sure Physical AI evolves with human purpose — not just technical capability?
Watch for Part 2 of this Summary in a few days!
PS: I Can’t Wait For Next Year’s Event in the Spring of 2026!!!
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Thanks for posting. I'll keep my eye on future events like this.