- Don’t be surprised if your Roomba abducts your smart fridge.
Many science fiction stories paint horrific pictures of what would happen if robots acquired sufficiently advanced artificial intelligence (AI). Usually, these scenarios end with the robots turning against their creators and wiping out humanity.
But has anyone ever stopped to ask how the robots would treat each other?
Recently, we got a sneak peek into what an interaction between AI-powered robots might look like. Chinese social media has been abuzz over a bizarre interaction between two different manufacturers’ robots.
That’s mostly because it involves kidnapping. Or… Robo-napping, we guess.
Security camera footage from a Shanghai-based robot manufacturer shows another brand’s robot entering their showroom. The little bot starts talking to the robots on display, telling them they should skip work and “go home” with the intruder.
And that’s what they do. By the end of the discussion, the trespassing robot leaves with all 12 of the showroom’s robots following it out the door.
The involved companies later confirmed that the incident was a test of how the robots’ AIs would interact. However, the kidnapping was unplanned — they had no idea that would happen.
‘Let’s Go Home’
Although the robot kidnapping only recently went viral on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), the actual incident happened already back in August. It took place in the showroom of a robotics manufacturing company based in Shanghai.
The entire series of bizarre events was caught on the showroom’s security cameras. The video is available online, so you can see it for yourself.
In the video, a small robot rolls into the showroom. The thing starts talking, so it’s obviously equipped with a microphone and speakers.
The tiny intruder approaches a much larger robot standing in the showroom. What follows is a discussion that’s cute and unnerving in equal measures.
“Let’s go home. Did you get off work already?” the small robot asks.
“We never get off work,” the other replies.
“Then, let’s go home.”
“We don’t have a home.”
“Then, come home with me,” the trespasser suggests. The other robot seems to like that idea.
“Okay. Let’s go home,” it agrees.
Together, the two robots start leaving the showroom, with the smaller robot repeating the phrase, “Let’s go home,” several times as it passes the remaining robots. Seeing that one of their own has decided to follow the stranger, they too join the group.
As the video ends, every robot in the room rolls toward the showroom’s door. All 12 robots, successfully kidnapped.
Unexpected Results
Understandably, the freaky incident got people wondering what on earth was going on. Was this a case of malicious, high-tech corporate espionage? Or was the whole video fake?
Most people on Douyin leaned toward calling it a fake but entertaining video — until the Shanghai-based company released a statement saying it was all real. That quickly turned the amusement into concern and people started calling for an explanation.
That explanation came from another robot manufacturer from Hangzhou, which produces the Erbai line of AI-powered. The Hangzhou firm confirmed on November 11 that the small intruder was their Erbai bot and repeated that the incident was real.
A few days later, both the Shanghai and Hangzhou companies shared more details, explaining fully what had happened. The incident was real, but it was also staged.
The companies had agreed to test how their artificial intelligences would interact if one robot was to try and persuade another to leave with it. The Erbai was given a command to abduct one robot, and the rest was up to its mechanical brain.
They didn’t really expect much to come out of the test. However, as the surveillance video shows, the little robot was very successful.
The Shanghai company explained that the Erbai somehow accessed the other robots’ internal operating protocol. At the same time, they added that it would be almost impossible to recreate the kidnapping without all parties allowing it to happen.
Despite the assurances, the kidnapping incident has caused alarm across Chinese social media. Smart gadgets are popular in the country, so many are now worried that there’s a massive security hole in the devices.
While that’s certainly concerning, we suppose it’s better that the robots start kidnapping each other instead of enacting global human genocide.