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Ex-OpenAI engineer launches robotics start-up, joining race to produce intelligent machines

Light Robotics, which has set up offices in Shenzhen and Singapore, will focus on consumer-facing companion robots

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A Walker X humanoid robot is seen at a sci-tech company in Shenzhen. Photo: Xinhua

An ex-OpenAI engineer has started a new robotics venture with offices reportedly in China and Singapore, joining the race to produce intelligent machines as China moves to boost the industry.

Roger Jiang, who left ChatGPT creator OpenAI in June 2023, founded Light Robotics in Singapore in August this year with the goal of building general purpose robots, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Jiang contributed to building OpenAI’s GPT-4 in areas including foundational reinforcement learning from human feedback, data and contamination investigations, OpenAI’s website shows.

Light Robotics, named Liangyuan Xinchuang in Chinese, will focus on consumer-facing companion robots. It has set up offices in both Shenzhen and Singapore, according to a report by Chinese news outlet 36Kr on Friday.

02:02

Robot in China persuades others to ‘go home’

Robot in China persuades others to ‘go home’

Light Robotics is hiring talent in Singapore and already has one engineer based in Shanghai, the company’s LinkedIn page shows. A Liangyuan Xinchuang Technology Limited Company was established in Shanghai in August, according to Chinese corporate database Qichacha.

Xinmei Shen joined the Post in 2017 and is a technology reporter. She covers content, entertainment, social media and internet culture. Previously, she was with the Post’s tech news site, Abacus. Before that, she was a reporting intern at The Information whilst studying at the University of Hong Kong.
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