A tiny AI-powered robot abducted 12 larger robots from a Shanghai robotics showroom. The security cam footage has since gone viral on social media, with debates on the safety threats of AI.
The tiny AI robot named Erbai is the property of Unitree Robotics. The camera footage of the incident first emerged on the Chinese Tiktok version, Douyin. Since then the video has been appearing on platforms like YouTube entering the mainstream news.
In the video, the tiny robot can be spotted entering the showroom after the closing hours without any sight of humans around. After that Erbai starts a conversation with the other robots making the whole scene a potential idea for a Pixar animated film.
The conversation starts with the tiny robot asking “Are you working overtime?” to which the other robot replies about never getting off from work. The tiny AI-driven Erbai empathetically asks if the other robot ever goes home and ends up inviting it to his home saying “Come home with me”. At first, only 2 robots followed Erbai, however, he gave the command “go home” and other robots also followed.
The incident was confirmed by the involved companies
When this incident reached the public eye, it was referred to as a hoax. However, both involved companies, have confirmed it is the real incident according to HKeye (an extension of the Chinese news reporting website OrangeNews).
First, the confirmation came from Erbai’s Unitree Robotics spokesperson. Afterward, the Shanghai based company (whose name hasn’t been revealed yet) told the little robot had somehow accessed the internal operating protocol of their bigger robots and its correlated permissions.
It was shared that Unitree Robotics had contacted the Shanghai robot manufacturer asking their permission if they will also their robots to be kidnapped. Although the Shanghai company allowed the experiment, they did not know about AI-powered Erbai’s ability to access the operating protocols of their machines and take them along.
This collaborated experiment raises doubts about the autonomy of AI
Although the incident was just a collaborated experiment, it still raises serious concerns about how AI and robotics can adapt human-like behavior making us second guess machine autonomy. It also points to the risk of the unpredictability of consequences of advanced AI technology.
Some comments under the incident show how this could be concerning to the people. While some are describing it as “terrifying”, one user commented, “It has begun” pointing to the dystopian nature of Artificial Intelligence. On the other hand, some people were just entertained by the news and joked about it saying “Now even robot hates the idea of working overtime”.
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