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What's the deal with Physical AI? Why the next frontier of tech is already all around you

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Kerry Wan/ZDNET

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Physical AI is the latest trending frontier of the technology.

It leverages real-world data for more autonomous robots.

Its early stages could be on your face right now.

ChatGPT's release over three years ago triggered an AI frenzy. While AI models continue to become more capable, to truly be as helpful as possible to people in their everyday lives, they need to have access to everyday tasks. That's only possible by allowing them to live outside a chatbot on your laptop screen and more presently in your environment.

Also: I sat down with Bluetooth reps at CES 2026 - and what they told me changed my perspective forever

Enter the industry's latest buzzword: physical AI. The term was on full display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, with nearly every company touting a new model or hardware that can contribute to advancing the space, including Nvidia. During the company's keynote, CEO Jensen Huang even compared the significance of physical AI to that of ChatGPT's release.

"The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here -- when machines begin to understand, reason, and act in the real world," he said.

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