Eric Jang Steps Down as VP of AI at 1X Technologies

In a significant leadership shift for the humanoid robotics industry, Eric Jang has announced his departure from his role as Vice President of AI at 1X Technologies. Jang, who joined the firm in 2022 when it was still known as Halodi Robotics, was instrumental in steering the company’s transition from a specialized industrial player to a prominent contender in the race for domestic general-purpose androids.

Jang’s exit comes at a high-water mark for the company. Just days ago, 1X unveiled a major evolution of its 1X World Model (1XWM), a generative "cognitive core" that allows the NEO humanoid to "imagine" and simulate chores before executing them. In his farewell statement, Jang characterized the current state of 1X as "firing on all cylinders," noting that the company has successfully relocated its core operations to the SF Bay Area and is actively preparing NEO for home deployment.

From a Garage to the Global Stage

Jang’s tenure at 1X was defined by a "data-first" philosophy that challenged traditional robotics regimes. Joining as the first California-based employee, Jang and his early team initially operated out of a garage—a humble start for a company that would later secure massive backing from OpenAI and EQT and reach a valuation of >$10B.

During his four years at the helm of the AI division, Jang oversaw the development of several critical technical pillars:

• Redwood AI: A unified, onboard "brain" that handles perception and manipulation jointly.
• Whole-Body Mobility: A reinforcement learning core that allows NEO to move with fluid, human-like agility.
• The Data Engine: A robust system for "sponging up" data from human teleoperators to train autonomous policies.

"When I joined in 2022, most technologists and VCs were skeptical about humanoids," Jang reflected. "I remain confident that soon, house robots will be as commonplace as air conditioners, cars, and ChatGPT."

The "Magical Object" Strategy

Jang is widely regarded in the industry for his belief in "harnessing the magic" of specific AI breakthroughs. At Google Robotics, where he spent six years prior to 1X, he pioneered BC-Z, betting on the "data-absorption capabilities" of supervised learning.

At 1X, his "magical object" was the integration of video models into robotics. By treating video generation as a world model, Jang helped 1X bypass the need for costly, hand-labeled robot data, instead tapping into the vast "common sense" knowledge embedded in internet-scale video datasets. This approach allowed NEO to generalize to novel tasks, such as operating a toilet seat or steaming a shirt, without prior specific training.

Industry Impact and Speculation

The departure has sent ripples through the robotics community. Benjamin Bolte, founder of the now defunct K-Scale Labs (and the new project Model.inc), described Jang as one of two people—alongside Elon Musk—responsible for "making humanoids a thing in Silicon Valley." Bolte praised Jang’s "high-conviction" decision to leave a stable role at Google for a then-obscure Norwegian startup, calling it the move of an "independent thinker."

However, the exit is not without its share of industry scrutiny. Some observers, including Eren Chen of Booster Robotics, have suggested that the departure might be linked to the "unrealistic expectations" and intense "hype" surrounding the humanoid sector. 1X has recently faced criticism from tech figures like Marques Brownlee, who characterized the company’s NEO launch as "selling the dream" due to its heavy reliance on human-in-the-loop teleoperation.

What’s Next for Jang and 1X?

Jang plans to take several months to "empty his cup" and gain fresh perspective on the rapidly evolving AI landscape, with an upcoming trip to China in March to explore the robotics ecosystem there.

For 1X, the transition of leadership appears already underway. Coinciding with the leadership change, 1X formally appointed Mohi Khansari as the new Head of Robot Learning. A veteran roboticist with over two decades of experience, Khansari previously served as a Distinguished AI Engineer at 1X and was a founding member of the imitation learning effort at Google X’s Everyday Robots.

Khansari is notably the chief architect behind Redwood AI, the vision-language transformer that powers NEO’s mobile manipulation. 1X CEO Bernt Børnich described Khansari as a "rare builder" capable of bridging the gap between academic research and shipping production-grade capability. This appointment signals that while Jang was the visionary who helped plant 1X in Silicon Valley, Khansari will be the one tasked with the "end game": refining the intelligence that moves NEO from impressive demos into safe, everyday home assistance.

As Jang noted in his closing remarks: "The next token of my life sequence will be an important one." The same can likely be said for the company he helped build.