Nvidia’s Les Karpas will address TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 on October 13-15 in San Francisco to explain why robotics has not yet experienced the same sudden breakthrough as large language models.
The data gap in physical AI
ChatGPT arrived in November 2022 and moved AI from theory to daily use almost instantly. Robotics has been discussed and built for years, yet it lacks that specific moment of mass adoption. Karpas, Global Head of Physical AI at Nvidia Inception, will detail the obstacles preventing a similar shift.
He notes that no one possesses an internet-wide dataset for physical AI comparable to what OpenAI or Anthropic had for text. Self-driving fleets from Waymo and others managed to gather data through years of accumulated road miles, expanding market by market. That is a scale robotics cannot easily replicate.
Startups are now attempting to manufacture this scale using simulation, synthetic data, and foundation models trained across multiple robot forms. Bridging the digital and physical worlds remains the central challenge. Karpas will discuss this alongside founders from Shield AI, Colossal Biosciences, FieldAI, and Foxglove.
Karpas’s background in hardware and software
His position allows him to coordinate Nvidia’s relationship with the startup ecosystem across robotics, automotive, manufacturing, mobility, and smart cities. He regularly interfaces with the companies trying to solve the data gap.
Karpas brings a cross-disciplinary background to the role. His career includes positions as an architect, manufacturing engineer, startup CEO, venture studio executive, and corporate venture capitalist. He has worked at Stanley Black & Decker, Intellectual Ventures, Herman Miller, iRobot, and Cirque du Soleil.
Event details
The session, titled Robots Are Waiting for Their ChatGPT Moment, takes place on the Real World AI Stage. Tickets are available until September 25. Early pricing offers a discount of up to $200. Group bookings can save up to 30%.
More than 10,000 tech leaders, founders, and investors will attend the event at Moscone West. The agenda includes a broad lineup of AI-focused speakers covering topics from building companies to operating in the real world.
