I sit down with Jan Liphardt, founder of OpenMind and Stanford professor, to discuss an important question that will shape the future: who should control intelligent robots?

As AI and robotics converge, our economic and societal trajectory may hinge on whether robots become closed, black-box systems or open platforms that anyone can build on, audit, and deploy locally.

Jan and the team at OpenMind are building OM1: an open-source, AI-native software stack for robotic systems. Think of it as Android for humanoids, with an App Store where developers can ship new skills to robots in the real world.

Enjoy!

Watch on YouTube; listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Recording Date: January 23, 2026

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

02:15 Different Views On The Main Bottleneck In Robotics

09:50 OM1 - An AI-Native Operating Systems For Robots

14:51 Building The Connective Tissue

20:16 Future Of Dexterity

24:03 Openmind’s Hardware-Agnostic Approach

28:32 Vertical Integration vs. Open Collaboration

30:31 Building An App Store For Humanoids

38:26 Long Tail Of Robot Training Data

43:49 Data Utilization Challenges

46:13 Edge AI And Hardware

52:37 Working With OEMs and Enterprises

59:58 Why Start A Company Now

01:07:06 Rapid Fire

Follow Jordan on X:

* https://x.com/jrwolfe

Jan & OpenMind Links:

* Website – https://openmind.org

* GitHub – https://github.com/OpenMind/OM1

* Email – [email protected]

Remember to go direct!

Jordan

P.S. Build with love

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goingdirect.substack.com