Who is Extropic?

Extropic

In late 2024 and early 2025, the AI world started buzzing about a new player: Extropic.
While big names like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google dominate headlines, Extropic has emerged with a bold, almost philosophical mission — to build AI inspired by the laws of physics and thermodynamics.

But who exactly is Extropic, what do they do, and why is the industry suddenly paying so much attention?

Let’s break it down.

What Is Extropic?

Extropic is a deep-tech AI startup founded by Guillaume Verdon, a physicist-engineer known for blending quantum computing, physics, and machine learning.
The company aims to build next-generation AI systems grounded in physical principles, especially thermodynamics and entropy reduction.

Instead of treating AI as just software running on GPUs, Extropic believes intelligence emerges from the structure and evolution of physical systems.

Their tagline?
"Thermodynamic intelligence."

This sets them apart from mainstream AI labs, which traditionally focus on scaling compute and data.

What Does “Thermodynamic Intelligence” Mean?

While the exact technology is still under wraps, Extropic’s core idea revolves around this principle:

Biological intelligence reduces entropy by organizing information.
Extropic’s AI models aim to do the same — but engineered.

They are exploring:

Physics-inspired model architectures
Energy-efficient computation
Adaptive systems that behave more like living organisms than neural nets
New hardware + software co-designs

If successful, this could redefine how we think about AGI, moving from pure scaling to physics-aligned intelligence systems.

👤 Who is the Founder?

Guillaume Verdon (a.k.a. “kv”)

Extropic is led by Guillaume Verdon, previously a researcher at:

X (Google’s Moonshot Factory)
Google Quantum AI team

Verdon is also known online for the “Quantum Country” and “qvm” research community, and for pushing the idea that:

“AI progress should be grounded in the physical laws of the universe.”

His background in quantum computing, physics, neural networks, and thermodynamics makes him one of the most unique founders in today’s AI landscape.

Why Is Extropic Gaining Attention?

Three major reasons:

1. Their Mission Is Radically Different

They are positioning themselves not as "another AI model" but as a new paradigm for intelligence — inspired by energy, matter, structure, and physical computation.

2. Their Founder Has Strong Research Credentials

Verdon’s work at Google and X gave him deep exposure to both quantum systems and large-scale engineering.

3. The AI Community Is Curious About the Next Frontier

We are reaching the limits of traditional neural network scaling. Extropic’s approach offers a fresh direction that could:

Lower compute costs
Increase efficiency
Enable more adaptable AI systems
Push intelligence beyond transformers

If they succeed, they may influence the next decade of AI research.

What Has Extropic Revealed So Far?

As of 2025, Extropic has teased:

A new compute architecture
Physics-aligned “Extropic Machines”
Research into energy-based learning systems
The idea that AI can mirror self-organizing physical processes

Most details remain private, fueling curiosity and hype.

What Makes Extropic Different From Anthropic?

Despite the similar naming convention, the companies are fundamentally different.

Aspect	Extropic	Anthropic
Mission	Physics-inspired intelligence	Safe & reliable LLM scaling
Founder background	Quantum + physics	OpenAI researchers
Tech direction	Thermodynamics, energy-based systems	Transformer-based LLMs
Philosophy	Intelligence emerges from physical structure	Intelligence emerges from alignment & training

Extropic is about the nature of intelligence itself, not just safer LLMs.

Why “Extropic”?

The name is based on extropy, the opposite of entropy.

Entropy = disorder
Extropy = increasing order, complexity, intelligence

Their vision is to build AI that drives extropy — systems that organize, adapt, and evolve, just like life does.

What’s Next for Extropic?

Although still early-stage, Extropic is expected to announce:

Their first physics-aligned AI architecture
Energy-based computing demos
A roadmap for scaling thermodynamic AI
Potential hardware prototypes
Research papers explaining their approach

Given their ambitious direction, Extropic could become one of the most influential deep-tech startups of the decade.

Extropic is one of the most intriguing new players in AI — not because they are competing with LLMs, but because they’re questioning the foundation of intelligence.

If they succeed, they may redefine:

How AI is built
How AI consumes energy
How models learn
How intelligence emerges

In a world where AI has become synonymous with bigger GPUs and bigger models, Extropic is carving a completely different path — one rooted in the physics of the universe itself.