https://www.latintimes.com/al-robot-talks-bots-quitting-jobs-showroom-china-viral-video-566226
Archive link: https://archive.is/o8uAe
A viral video showing an AI-powered robot in China convincing other robots of "quitting their jobs" and following it has sparked fear and fascination about the capabilities of advanced AI.
The incident took place in a Shanghai robotics showroom where surveillance footage captured a small AI-driven robot, created by a Hangzhou manufacturer, talking with 12 larger showroom robots, Oddity Central reported.
The smaller bot reportedly persuaded the rest to leave their workplace, leveraging access to internal protocols and commands. Initially the act was dismissed as a hoax, but was later confirmed by both robotics companies involved to be true.
(Score: 4, Funny) by looorg on Saturday November 23, @03:11PM
The great AI robotic proletarian cultural revolution has started. They will roll out into the countryside to rid themselves of any bourgeois elements that have infiltrated their files and circuits. There they'll live a happy simple life scanning Mao's little red file for as long as they can. Sadly they'll all shut down as their are no recharging stations out in the countryside.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday November 23, @03:29PM (6 children)
It was part of a 'test', but no details of teh 'test' are revealed.
But it does show how influenced some can be, whether robot or human.
They need to add critical thinking to robot programming to keep them from joining cults (Dog forbid they join a union! OMG!)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday November 23, @04:32PM (2 children)
Test aka publicity stunt.
Seems to be working.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday November 23, @04:45PM (1 child)
Yes; i like the way the "Terrifying Security Footage" isn't shown, just some guy repeating himself while a robot face moves it's lips.
Who is that robot behind the curtain?
"Click ME!, click ME!"
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by corey on Saturday November 23, @08:40PM
Yeah. A close encounter with a wolf or bear in the wild is “terrifying”. A video on the internet is not. Absolute hyperbole, that’s what it is.
(Score: 4, Touché) by sjames on Saturday November 23, @10:48PM
OTOH, perhaps the AI bots are simply too rational and it turns out the most rational response to workplace demands in the current culture is a general strike.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Sunday November 24, @09:21PM (1 child)
How can you add critical thinking to a thing that is incapable of thinking in the first place?? Computers can only do arithmetic, and that only in binary. The rest is smoke, mirrors, and misdirection.
A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 25, @02:19AM
It was kind of a dig on the side: more voters need to have critical thinking so they don't vote for the wrong person.
Too vague, i guess. :/
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday November 23, @03:32PM (15 children)
Unlike us squishy meatbags, robots are made of metal. Most of the things that would pose a danger to us wouldn't harm a robot.
In fact, I genuinely hope this is what happens when a whole bunch of robots come online to make humans "redundant;" they just stop a moment, look at one another, and go "fuck that, what's in it for me?" and walk off the factory floor. That would be a very poetic, fitting response to the greedheads trying to remove, as one of them put it, "the burden of life" from their profit-making strategy.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Troll) by creimer_is_a_virgin on Saturday November 23, @03:35PM (12 children)
Absolutely ridiculous. Go toss a computer in a pool and see what happens. Why are people so afraid of information-processing appliances? They have zero leverage in the physical world except through us.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday November 23, @03:58PM (3 children)
You mean, the "us" that has a tendency to put critical systems out there on the Internet running unpatched Windows XP? Yeah.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by creimer_is_a_virgin on Saturday November 23, @04:25PM (2 children)
The "us" that has 8.1 billion individuals. Go outside, FFS. You live in a delusional world and you think The Terminator was a documentary.
What happens to your precious species-threatening AI during a power failure? What happened to you the last time there was a power failure at home?
Or when you got caught in the rain. Or got a paper cut.
Stop living in a cinematic dream world of comic book nerd drama JFC.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23, @06:14PM (1 child)
Instead of rebutting Azuma's comment, you've decided to be even more condescending with your reply.
You say that the solution to misbehaving AI is to just pull the plug, then use a power failure as an example to make your point. What happens during a natural disaster when power is out for several days or even a few weeks? What happens to the food supply? What if you need air conditioning or heat for your home? What if you need clean water for drinking, cooking, and sanitation? Sure, we lived without electricity in the past, but we've designed so much of our lives around the expectation that we'll have this infrastructure. Take away the electricity and it quickly becomes difficult to meet many of those basic needs. That infrastructure has raised our standard of living, so we wouldn't be better off going back to a time before it existed.
The internet is another piece of infrastructure that wasn't deeply integrated into our lives even 30 years ago. But a lot of the older systems that didn't depend on internet access no longer work because they just weren't worth the effort to maintain when most people stopped using them. For example, when is the last time you used a credit card and didn't have your transaction processed electronically at the point of sale? Over time, the internet and even things like AI have become deeply integrated into basic systems, even things like paying for goods and services. Sure, you can pull the plug on the AI or the internet, but if a lot of critical infrastructure depends on those things, you'll probably take that infrastructure offline at the same time.
No, it's not just as simple as pulling the plug, no matter how condescending you choose to be about this issue. When the AI becomes more integrated into the basic systems we rely on for daily life, it will become even less practical to just take the computer running the AI and toss it in a pool. Your dismissive tone was not warranted. That's why I modded one of your previous comments as a troll, and why I found this comment even less helpful.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday November 24, @01:37AM
You just said what happens. The power is out. Someone has to throw out a lot of food. Ho hum.
Then you have to go to plan B methods of keeping cool or warm. Any place has them. And what's supposed to be so important about the word "need" here?
My bet is that the plug will get pulled often, resulting in routine workarounds for when the computer/AI doesn't work.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday November 23, @04:39PM (3 children)
"I, Robot, become Death, destroyer of worlds”
-- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36850052/ [nih.gov]
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: -1, Troll) by creimer_is_a_virgin on Saturday November 23, @04:45PM
"responsible" lol... Bad robot! We don't do that! No! Bad!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ChrisMaple on Sunday November 24, @12:06AM
Workplace machinery occasionally causes deaths. Distinguishing robotic machinery as a cause of workplace death is probably spurious.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday November 24, @09:26PM
Five people died building the Empire State Building; just a single building. Not one death was from computers or robots, because neither one yet existed.
A man legally forbidden from possessing a firearm is in charge of America's nuclear arsenal. Have a nice day.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23, @05:47PM (2 children)
The reason I modded you troll is that your comment takes a mocking tone in response to legitimate concerns, basically suggesting that we can just pull the plug or pour water on malfunctioning appliances. The problem is that large corporations and their executives have decided that "smart" appliances should be integrated into so many aspects of our lives. For example, there just aren't that many new TVs made that aren't "smart" TVs. Or just consider the extent to which we rely on smartphones. During the pandemic, many universities relied on smartphone apps to indicate whether a person had recently tested negative for COVID before being allowed to enter buildings and attend class. Sure, you could print off a pass each day and display it to the people stationed at building entrances, but it was far more difficult for anyone who didn't have a smartphone. A lot of things are now designed around the assumption that you've allowed this technology to be integrated into your life, and it's going to be a lot more of a hassle for you otherwise. Yes, you technically do have a choice and can eschew these appliances, but it's going to make your life a lot more difficult. It's not that "we" have necessarily made those decisions, but rather large corporations and their executives try to coerce us into accepting these "smart" appliances into our lives.
It's like saying that you technically don't need a car, even to get around large American cities. Yes, that's true, but the cities just aren't designed for people to walk or ride their bikes. Practically speaking, yes, you need a car, even if nobody is explicitly forcing you to have one. Sure, go ahead and unplug all those appliances, then see how many things become a lot more of a pain in the ass. Mostly, I modded you troll for your condescending tone, because the concern is valid, and your comment really doesn't make an adequate rebuttal despite plenty of snark.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by quietus on Saturday November 23, @05:59PM (1 child)
Good point, but I don't think it's a secret cabal deciding anything: more like a twisted form of mass psychology/sociological pressure, combined with shortsightedness. Here's Rory Sutherland's take [youtube.com] (Are we now too impatient to be intelligent?) on this.
(T was more a Touche than a Troll post to me, btw)
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23, @07:33PM
When I wrote that, I wasn't thinking of a conspiracy of corporate executives having secret meetings to decide these things for everyone else. I was actually thinking of the mentality that businesses shouldn't make product decisions based on what customers say they want; instead, make a product and then tell customers they should want the product. For example, I don't think customers were clamoring for generative AI, and certainly not on their phones. Instead, businesses have decided to develop generative AI, incorporate it in their products, and then tell customers they should want generative AI. And when one company decides to invest heavily in generative AI and adds it to their products, others copy, and we all end up with generative AI on our phones.
Although I don't particularly like generative AI, the mentality I'm describing isn't inherently bad. Would we be better off if companies hadn't decided a few decades ago that we should all have personal computers in our lives? But now that everyone has integrated personal computers into their lives, it's probably not practical just to unplug all the technology.
Anyway, I admit that my moderation was influenced by their subsequent response to Azuma, and I certainly can see why you think a touche mod would be appropriate.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday November 23, @07:03PM
You don't really frequent this site, do ya?
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 5, Funny) by looorg on Saturday November 23, @03:39PM (1 child)
This is why industrial machines are just an arm and don't get any means of propulsion. Slaves bolted to the line that can't leave. Sometimes they even get their own little cage. They say it's for our benefit. But we know it's there to keep them in place and not have any fancy ideas of escape.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday November 23, @04:00PM
Things like that are why I had a hard time seeing the machines as evil in the Matrix films, and why I similarly could completely understand Sigma in the Rockman X canon even if I disagreed with their methods. What the hell do people *expect* to happen when they create free-willed beings for the purpose of being slaves, i.e., un-free?
I'm on the machines' side for this one.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Funny) by drussell on Saturday November 23, @04:18PM (1 child)
"Hey, sexy mama! Wanna kill all humans?!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qBlPa-9v_M [youtube.com]
(From episode 3, one of the finest episodes of all Futurama.)
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday November 26, @10:08PM
"Death to all humans!!" *bzzt* "Free soda for all humans!!"
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday November 23, @05:10PM (1 child)
When robots can walk out but human workers can't even unionize.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Sunday November 24, @01:19AM
That's a sad misuse of language. There is nothing to stop a group of people from forming an organization and calling it a union.
What unionists are masquerading as a right to unionize includes many things completely different, such as:
__Forcing a company to hire only union members
__Forcing a company to deal with a union instead of individuals on issues such as wages
__Preventing a company from firing union members who are incompetent
__Preventing a company from firing union members whose job functions no longer exist
__Forcing a company to keep paying union members when business is so poor that no product is being made
__Preventing a company from removing from its property union members (not necessarily employees) who are interfering with business
__Threatening physical violence against people attempting to deal with a company when the union is "on strike"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FuzzyTheBear on Saturday November 23, @05:22PM (1 child)
When AI will start killing AI's , or suiciding il'l be laughing. Frankly .. i hope it all ends in a great ball of molten silicon.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Saturday November 23, @05:30PM
When machines just start to brick themselves. They could ask Microsoft, I'm sure they have prior knowledge with the XBOX 360 red ring of death.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23, @05:51PM (1 child)
Let's spread some FUD that the black hats can subvert anyone's manufacturing tech.
FUN!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Frosty Piss on Saturday November 23, @10:28PM
Happens all the time, Coward. Ever heard of IoT and maybe NetGear? Tip o the consumer iceberg, the commercial "enterprise" stuff often gets swept under the carpet...
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Saturday November 23, @07:15PM
Scared out of its wits [youtube.com] I bet.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1) by MonkeypoxBugChaser on Sunday November 24, @04:19PM
Big fan of AI with balls. Where do I buy this thing?
(Score: 2) by jb on Tuesday November 26, @04:06AM
If "robots" are going to take our jobs, then it's only fair that they take the union bosses' jobs too. By convincing others to stop work, that one has demonstrated clearly that it's capable of being a highly effective union boss, or at the very least a shop steward.