This AI entrepreneur is developing agents that can plan ahead for the unexpected

Danijar Hafner, 31, left Google DeepMind in fall 2025 to start a stealth startup in San Francisco's SoMa district. His approach uses model-based reinforcement learning and world models to enable AI agents and robots to navigate unfamiliar environments without extensive real-world training. The humanoid robots, imported from China, represent the physical evolution of his decade-long research enabling AI to handle previously unseen scenarios.

I was interested in solving a problem that would change the world.