Former Google AI Researcher Spins off AI Robotics Startup in Tokyo

Jad Tarifi, who started GOOGL's first generative AI team in 2013, has officially launched Integral AI Inc. in Tokyo — an AI robotics startup focused on teaching robots to acquire new skills by observing demonstrations rather than being manually programmed. Co-founded with Nima Asgharbeygi, the 15-person company has developed the Genesis model, a foundation model for physical AI and autonomous systems. Tarifi spent his final year at Google working from the company's Tokyo office specifically to immerse himself in Japan's robotics ecosystem before launching the venture.

Integral AI has raised approximately $5.5 million in seed funding from SoftBank's Deepcore, Samsung Next, and IT-Farm, and is currently seeking $10 million in a new round to scale the Genesis model for public release later in 2026. The startup has partnered with Denso Corp., a major TM-affiliated auto parts maker, since 2021 to teach industrial robots new skills, and is in early discussions with Toyota, Sony, Honda, Nissan, and Mitsui Chemicals about advancing their manufacturing with AI. Japan's position as a world leader in industrial robotics makes Tokyo a natural base for the company's robot-learning technology.

The long-term vision is robots that learn tasks from natural-language instructions — for example, a human says "make a coffee" and the robot figures it out autonomously. Integral AI's approach of using foundation models for physical AI parallels the direction Google DeepMind has taken with its own robotics research (RT-2), suggesting a broader industry trend toward AI-powered manufacturing automation. The startup's claims of having built "the world's first AGI-capable model" in late 2025 were met with skepticism by experts, though its partnerships with major Japanese manufacturers lend credibility to its applied robotics work.