I researched 6 Skild AI alternatives in 2026: What works for business today

I’ve spent the last few weeks in a rabbit hole of advanced AI, and honestly, it’s been a wild ride. It all started when I stumbled upon a video from Skild AI showing a robot learning and adapting on the fly. This whole idea of an "omni-bodied" brain that can jump into any machine and just know how to operate it feels like something straight out of a movie.

But then, I had to snap back to reality. While that technology is mind-bending, it's not going to solve my problems today. Most of us aren't trying to teach a robot how to use a power tool; we're just trying to keep our heads above water with an overflowing customer support queue.

That got me searching for the best Skild AI alternatives you can actually use in 2026. My journey started with the pioneers of physical robotics but led me to a much more practical discovery: AI platforms that use that same "brain-like" intelligence to solve the digital problems businesses are dealing with right now.

What is a robotics foundation model?

Before we dive into the alternatives, let’s quickly unpack what Skild AI is actually building. A robotics foundation model is a huge, flexible AI that’s been trained on a staggering amount of data, think countless simulations, videos, and real-world interactions. The end goal is to create one AI that can handle a massive range of physical jobs across many different types of robots.

This is where their "omni-bodied brain" idea comes into play. Instead of building one AI for a dog-like robot, another for a humanoid one, and a third for a factory arm, they’re building a single intelligence that can run all of them. It’s a huge leap toward creating robots that can adapt to messy, unpredictable places, from a busy warehouse to a disaster zone.

It got me thinking, though. This concept of a central, adaptable "brain" isn't just for the physical world. The same idea is already being used to automate knowledge work and communication online, and that’s something we can all benefit from today.

Our criteria for the best Skild AI alternatives

Since we're straddling two different worlds here, physical robotics and digital operations, the criteria for a good alternative have to be a bit flexible. To make sense of it all, I broke things down by asking a few key questions:

• Domain: Is the AI built for the physical world of robots or the digital world of business?

• Time to Value: How fast can you actually see results? Are we talking years of research and development, or can you get set up in minutes?

• Core Application: What’s the main problem it solves? Is it about moving things around physically or automating customer support digitally?

• Adaptability: How well does the AI learn from new information within its specific area?

• Accessibility: Is this a research-heavy project, or a self-serve tool that anyone can sign up for and start using immediately?

Comparison of top Skild AI alternatives in 2026

Here’s a quick table to show how the different options stack up at a glance.

Feature	Figure AI	Sanctuary AI	Physical Intelligence	eesel AI	ServiceNow
Primary Focus	Humanoid Robotics	General-Purpose Robots	Embodied AI	AI for Customer Support	Enterprise AI Suite
Domain	Physical	Physical	Physical	Digital	Digital
Time to Value	5+ Years	5+ Years	3-5 Years	Minutes	Months
Self-Serve?	No	No	No	Yes	No
Pricing Model	N/A (R&D)	N/A (R&D)	N/A (R&D)	Flat, predictable tiers	Custom enterprise contracts
Best For	Future of manual labor	Human-like task automation	Advanced robotics R&D	Instant support automation	Complex, custom workflows

The 6 best Skild AI alternatives for the future (and for today)

Let's start with the visionaries building the robots of tomorrow, then switch gears to the tools that can make a real difference for your business today.

The pioneers of physical AI: Direct Skild AI alternatives

These companies are the true, direct Skild AI alternatives. They’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with robots and embodied AI. If you want a peek into the future of the physical world, these are the ones to keep an eye on.

1. Figure AI

Figure AI is betting big on building autonomous humanoid robots that can work alongside people, helping to fill labor gaps and take on jobs that are too dangerous for humans. Their demos are seriously impressive, and they have a clear goal of getting these robots into the commercial workforce.

• Pros: They have strong funding, clear business goals, and some very cool hardware demos.

• Cons: This is a long-term play. The technology is still navigating complex safety and technical milestones before it becomes a standard workplace tool.

• Pricing: Not applicable. Figure AI is deep in the R&D phase, so there's no product on the market yet.

2. Sanctuary AI

Sanctuary AI is all about creating "human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots." What's interesting about them is their focus on their Phoenix™ robot and their AI control system, Carbon™. They're essentially trying to build a robot that can think and learn like a person.

• Pros: Their AI control system is incredibly sophisticated. They’re really focused on the cognitive side of things, not just the hardware.

• Cons: Their approach is very comprehensive and takes time to refine for broad real-world use.

• Pricing: None. Just like the other pioneers in this space, Sanctuary AI is focused on research, not selling a product.

3. Physical Intelligence

Physical Intelligence is another direct competitor working on AI models that allow robots to understand and interact with the physical world. They take a software-first approach, really hammering home that the "brain" is the most important part of the machine.

• Pros: They share Skild AI’s core mission of building the intelligence behind the robot, which is a vital part of the physical AI equation.

• Cons: As a research-focused company, their specific timeline for a commercial product remains under development.

• Pricing: Not available, since they are a research-focused company.

The practical Skild AI alternatives: AI for your digital operations

While the companies above are building an incredible future, your business has problems that need solving right now. The same idea of an adaptable, centralized AI "brain" is already making waves in the digital world, especially in how companies manage their knowledge and communicate with customers. Here are the platforms that deliver on that promise today.

4. eesel AI

This is where the whole AI brain concept becomes immediately useful. eesel AI acts as an AI "brain" for your business's collective knowledge. Instead of learning to navigate a factory, it learns from your Zendesk tickets, Confluence pages, Google Docs, and Slack messages to automate customer support and answer internal questions.

• Pros:

• You can get it running in minutes: It's genuinely self-serve. You connect your help desk with one click and get going, no complex sales process required.

• It pulls together all your knowledge: It connects to all the different places your team's knowledge is scattered and even trains on your past support tickets to automatically pick up your brand's voice.

• Risk-free simulation: You can test the AI on thousands of your past tickets to see exactly how it would have performed. This gives you a real-world resolution rate before it ever interacts with a live customer.

• Transparent pricing: The pricing is flat and predictable. You don’t get stung with a huge bill just because you had a busy support month.

• Cons: It’s focused on digital knowledge and communication, so it's a specialist for your digital workflows rather than physical tasks.

• Pricing: eesel AI keeps it simple with straightforward plans. The Team plan is $299/month, or $239/month if you pay annually. The Business plan, which adds features like training on past tickets and AI actions, is $799/month, or $639/month annually.

While Skild AI is building a brain for a robot's body, eesel AI builds one for your company's knowledge, and you can start using it today.

5. ServiceNow

ServiceNow is a beast of an AI platform built for large enterprises. It can run incredibly complex, custom workflows and automate processes across IT, HR, and customer service. It's the kind of tool that can manage an entire corporation's internal operations.

• Pros: Extremely powerful and can be customized for just about any enterprise workflow you can dream up.

• Cons: It’s a comprehensive enterprise system, meaning setup typically requires a dedicated timeline and technical team to fully implement.

• Pricing: ServiceNow doesn't list its prices online. You go through their sales team for a custom quote, which is typical for specialized enterprise software.

6. Zendesk AI

Zendesk is the gold standard in customer support, and they have built a truly impressive AI offering. It is a mature, reliable, and enterprise-grade platform that powers customer service for thousands of companies worldwide. Their AI is designed to work seamlessly within the Zendesk ecosystem, providing a robust solution for deflecting questions and helping out human agents.

• Pros:

• Seamless integration: Since it’s built directly into the industry-leading help desk, the setup is virtually instantaneous and incredibly reliable.

• World-class ecosystem: Zendesk has built an impressive marketplace, and their AI, including the advanced capabilities of Ultimate.ai, offers world-class multilingual support and automation.

• Mature and trusted: As a platform that scales from small teams to the largest enterprises, you can trust that their AI features are built for stability and high performance.

• Cons: Zendesk AI is highly specialized for the data within the support ecosystem, though it can be easily complemented by tools like eesel AI to reach across external documents like Google Docs or Confluence.

• Pricing: Zendesk offers tiered plans to match different team sizes, with Suite plans starting at $55/agent/month (annually). Their AI features use a performance-based model to ensure you are seeing value from your automated resolutions, which is a transparent way to scale costs alongside your success.

How to choose the right Skild AI alternatives for your business needs

The decision here isn't about which AI is "smarter" in an abstract sense, but about which one actually solves the problems you have.

To figure that out, just ask yourself a few simple questions:

1. Is your problem physical or digital? This is the big one. Do you need to move boxes, or do you need to answer emails?

2. What’s your timeline? Are you looking for a fix this quarter, or are you investing in research for the next decade?

3. What resources can you commit? Do you want a tool you can set up yourself this afternoon, or do you have an engineering team ready for a longer integration project?

4. How important is your current workflow? Do you need an AI that fits into the tools you already use, like Zendesk and Slack, or are you willing to overhaul your entire system?

My advice? Look for the tools that empower your existing team. For many businesses, that means using a powerful platform like Zendesk to manage customer interactions and potentially adding complementary tools like eesel AI to manage scattered documentation.

Skild AI alternatives: Build your future, starting today

It’s impossible not to be impressed by what Skild AI and its robotics alternatives are doing. Their work is absolutely going to shape the future, and it’s exciting to watch.

But the core ideas powering that future: adaptable and constantly learning AI models: are already here and ready to use. You don't have to wait a decade to get the benefits of AI.

Platforms like Zendesk and eesel AI bring that power to the digital world where your business operates every single day. While robotics AI is still learning to navigate the physical world, you can put a mature, trusted AI to work that's ready to run your support workflows today.

Ready to see what a professional AI brain can do for your business knowledge? Start your free trial of eesel AI and see how it works within your Zendesk ecosystem in just a few minutes.