NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang opened CES 2026 in Las Vegas with the announcement of Rubin, the company's first extreme-codesigned AI platform designed to replace the Blackwell architecture starting in the second half of 2026. The unveiling positions NVIDIA to become the default platform for generalist robotics, mirroring Android's dominance in smartphones.
Physical AI emerged as CES 2026's defining theme, taking center stage from last year's agentic AI focus. NVIDIA defines physical AI as models trained in virtual environments using synthetic computer-generated data, then deployed as physical machines once they master their intended purpose. This approach dramatically reduces training costs while enabling rapid iteration on robot behaviors.
The company released several groundbreaking open AI models including NVIDIA Cosmos Transfer 2.5 and Cosmos Predict 2.5 for world modeling, Cosmos Reason 2 vision language model that enables machines to see and understand the physical world, and Isaac GR00T N1.6 specifically designed for humanoid robot full-body control. NVIDIA also unveiled the Alpamayo family of models for autonomous vehicles.