Brett Adcock built three companies worth billions, but he says his net worth doesn't matter at all,only whether Figure AI can truly change the world. The serial entrepreneur, who founded Vettery (sold for $110 million), Archer (publicly listed), and Figure (valued at approximately $39 billion), operates with an almost obsessive focus on solving the hardest problems in robotics and artificial intelligence.

Why Did Adcock Choose Humanoid Robots Over Easier Alternatives?

When Adcock was 24 years old, he began systematically studying the world's most successful people by tracking their birth years, apprenticeship timelines, and breakthrough moments. This research led him to a core principle that guides all his decisions: difficult problems are often simpler to solve than easy ones.

Adcock explained his reasoning for pursuing humanoid robots instead of quadruped robotic dogs, which are significantly easier to develop. "Humanoid robots may only be 3 to 4 times more difficult to develop than quadruped dogs, but their potential returns may be a million times or even a billion times higher than the latter," he stated. "Why would you make a quadruped dog? What economic value can that bring?". This philosophy reflects his belief that top talent gravitates toward ambitious, difficult challenges rather than incremental improvements on simpler problems.

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His dismissal of what he calls "junk AI products" on the market reveals his uncompromising approach. "Look at those junk AI products on the market right now,things like OpenClaw, all of them are garbage. None of them will last. You might see some talent acquisition integrations, but those products will eventually disappear," he remarked.

How Has Figure's Humanoid Robot Technology Evolved?

Four years ago, Figure's entire operation consisted of just 5 engineers working on a single mechanical leg with ankle dorsiflexion capability. Today, the company has deployed autonomous robots to multiple customer sites, with robots now working at their third customer location. The transformation from a movable knee to fully autonomous systems represents a dramatic acceleration in the company's development timeline.

Figure's current customer base operates primarily in logistics and manufacturing sectors, with BMW serving as one of their largest commercial customers. In a recent demonstration, Figure's robots sorted parcels on a conveyor belt at a speed of 2.9 seconds per parcel, matching the speed of human workers,a critical milestone for commercial viability.

Adcock emphasized that Figure's mission extends beyond flashy demonstrations. "Customers came to us and said, 'We are overwhelmed by labor problems, the employee turnover rate is extremely high, exceeding 100% per year in some regions, and we can't find a solution,'" he explained. "We already have the ability to deliver tangible return on investment for our customers." The company's real goal is not to build "robots that can do somersaults, run the fastest or dance," but rather "robots that can complete real tasks autonomously for a long time".

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What Are Adcock's Plans Beyond Physical Robotics?

Adcock's ambitions extend far beyond humanoid robots. About a year ago, he became deeply interested in what he calls "digital symbiosis between AI and humans." He envisions Figure as the physical embodiment of artificial intelligence (AI), while a separate project called Hark represents the digital counterpart.

Hark is developing two critical components for this vision: advanced AI models and next-generation hardware. On the model side, the key challenge is enabling AI to use computers exactly like humans do. "You won't hire an assistant who can't use a computer," Adcock noted. "AI needs to be able to use the mouse and keyboard, and complete all the things you can do in the browser,book flights, order food delivery, build financial models".

Adcock pointed out a fundamental constraint: only one in a thousand websites worldwide has APIs (application programming interfaces), making it impossible to rely solely on automated integrations. Instead, AI must learn to "look at the screen, move the cursor and tap the keyboard" just like humans. At Hark, they launch a virtual computer for each AI agent and let it run in a sandbox environment. The company recently released its first research preview version, and Adcock claimed that "there are barely any tasks we tell it to do online that it can't complete now".

Steps to Understanding Adcock's Multi-Company Strategy

• Figure AI: Develops autonomous humanoid robots for logistics and manufacturing, currently deployed at BMW and other major customers, with robots matching human worker speeds on parcel sorting tasks.
• Hark: Creates AI models and hardware that enable digital AI companions to perform computer tasks autonomously, including booking flights, ordering food, and building financial models through screen interaction.
• Cover: Develops weapon detection systems using custom chips for K-12 schools, with a 90% cost reduction achieved through custom chip design and testing underway.

On the hardware side, Hark is designing what Adcock calls "next-generation AI devices" that may completely replace mobile phones and computers. The hardware lead has participated in designing previous generations of iPhone and MacBook Pro. Adcock made clear that glasses will not be the final answer, citing Meta's glasses as "one of the worst products I have ever bought" due to its dependence on iPhones and poor user experience. "The final form will be brain-computer interface, but before that, we will have at least 10 years of AI voice devices," he predicted.

What Other Ventures Is Adcock Pursuing?

Beyond Figure and Hark, Adcock founded Cover, a company developing full-scanning systems capable of detecting weapons from 20 feet away for deployment in K-12 schools. The project originated from his personal experience as an Asian American who witnessed violent crimes against elderly Asian people being ignored during the pandemic, as well as school boards preventing Asian children from learning algebra in public middle schools.

Cover's team is led by a former chief engineer from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They developed custom chips that reduced costs by 90% and made the solution more scalable. "The chip manufacturing cycle is about a year," Adcock explained. "We just got the chips recently, and the test results are great. Now we need to produce more, which will take another 6 months".

How Is the Competition for AI Talent Reshaping the Industry?

Adcock revealed that competition for elite AI talent has reached extreme levels. There may only be 20 to 30 people around California who truly know how to build excellent AI models, creating a fierce bidding war among companies. Meta's strategy is particularly aggressive: the company offers senior AI researchers $36 million in restricted stock units over four years, while Adcock's offers for the same talent amount to approximately $15 to $20 million in startup stock options over four years.

The difference is psychological as well as financial. "The candidate knows very clearly, 'This is guaranteed cash. If I go to Meta, 36 million in four years is a sure thing,'" Adcock noted. This guaranteed compensation versus equity-based compensation creates a significant disadvantage for startups competing with established tech giants for the world's most talented AI researchers.