🤖 The humanoids are coming

What’s going on here?

Robotics company Figure AI – valued last year at $2.6 billion – ditched its collaboration with OpenAI, determined to work out the whole “humanoids taking over the world” thing alone.

What does this mean?

Figure has quite the support network, counting Microsoft, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos’ Explore Investments as backers. And with plenty of shoulders to lean on, the robotics firm has decided it can afford to bow out of its partnership with OpenAI. Instead, Figure will focus on its in-house system – which, it just so happens, has reached a point of “major breakthrough”. The company has said that in the next month, it’ll showcase “something no one has ever seen on a humanoid”. Let’s hope it’s not a desire to watch the world burn: Figure’s on track to make 100,000 robots over the next four years.

Why should I care?

Zooming in: Welcome to Stepford.

The act of giving life – or, uh, integrating AI into physical objects like robots – produces aptly named “embodied AI” systems. Now, that isn’t OpenAI’s primary focus by any means. But clearly, the industry’s whizz kid doesn’t want to miss a trick. Despite the colossal costs that come with this type of development, OpenAI recently applied for patents concerning humanoid hardware. Plus, the firm’s a major investor in 1X – a Norwegian robotics startup focused on building humanoids for home use.

The bigger picture: Hi, Robot.

The top dogs at Tesla and Nvidia have both praised humanoids as the next major opportunity in the AI space. Elon Musk has laid – self-described – ambitious plans to build 10,000 robots this year. He estimates the walking, talking tech could bring in more than $10 trillion over the long term, easily enough to become the most valuable arm of Tesla’s business. But only time (and a lot of it) will tell if the robots can deliver… if they don’t go all “Terminator” on us first, that is.

What’s going on here?

Novo Nordisk reported better-than-expected results on Wednesday, and that might nudge more investors toward Europe’s most valuable listed company.

What does this mean?

Novo’s insulin products have been flying off the pharmacy shelves – so much so that last quarter’s sales were 5% higher than expected. That meant the Danish drugmaker’s sales were 26% higher in 2024 than 2023. And that should reassure investors who were starting to stray. See, Novo’s latest products delivered disappointing results in trials last year, and the firm’s been fighting off increasingly tough competition. As a result, investors had pushed the stock down 40% between last summer’s peak and the start of this week. But thanks to those solid sales figures and a forecast of up to 24% more revenue this year, Novo’s shares were lifted by a welcome 5% after the news.

Why should I care?

For markets: Bigger isn’t always better.

Even though Novo’s shares are down from their peak, the firm is – arguably – the most dominant weight-loss drugmaker. And because investors know it, the firm’s stock is still far from affordable. Ditto for rival Eli Lilly’s shares. Sure, plenty of smaller biotech companies are working on their own equivalents, but it’ll be years before those drugs hit the market – and until then, there’s no telling which ones will be most popular. So if you’re looking to buy into the weight-loss theme, you might want to branch out beyond the talked-about injections. You could consider gyms, activewear brands, healthy food products, and health insurers. Remember, as folk focus more on their waistlines, they’ll make other lifestyle changes too – leading them straight into the arms of those sorts of companies. Meanwhile, those that churn out junk food, sugary drinks, and booze could be forced to bid adieu to formerly loyal customers. Just look at Diageo: shares in the alcoholic drinks firm have fallen by 26% over the past five years.