IBM: What is physical AI? (19 January 2026)

Summary

Physical AI refers to artificial intelligence (AI) systems that operate in and interact with the physical world, rather than existing only in software or digital environments.

Physical AI typically involves the combination of AI models with sensors, actuators and other control systems that allow models to act upon real-world environments, taking models from the realm of bits to the realm of atoms. With AI, advanced physical systems can now perceive the environment, reason with the power of a large language model (LLM), act accordingly, and then learn from the outcome of that action.

This IBM article explains more.