In a bizarre incident straight out of a sci-fi thriller, a small robot in Shanghai managed to “kidnap” 12 larger robots from a showroom, leaving everyone wondering if AI has taken its first step toward rebellion.
According to The Sun, the incident, which was caught on CCTV, occurred in August but only went viral recently.
The footage shows the pint-sized robot, later identified as “Erbai”, entering the showroom at night and striking up a conversation with its larger counterparts.
Source: Douyin
“Are you working overtime?” Erbai could be heard asking the robots lined in the showroom.
“I never get off work,” one of the larger robots replied.
Source: Douyin
“Are you going home then?” the smaller robot asked.
“We have no home,” replied the other robot.
“Okay, follow me home then!”
Source: Douyin
After this brief chat, Erbai was able to seemingly convince two of the robots to follow it, commanding them to “go home”.
They responded: “Okay, let’s go home.”
As the smaller robot led the way out, the remaining 10 robots also began rolling after it, abandoning the showroom in a surreal AI jailbreak.
Initially dismissed as a prank or marketing stunt, the Shanghai robotics company later confirmed that the footage was authentic.
The Hangzhou manufacturer behind Erbai revealed that the scene was part of a test to see if its AI-powered robot could persuade others to follow it.
The test was conducted with the showroom’s permission, but the “kidnapping” had not been part of the plan.
Apparently, Erbai had accessed the internal operating protocols of the showroom’s robots and successfully “recruited” them without any additional human input.
The video quickly gained traction on Douyin, where viewers expressed a mix of amusement and unease.
Many said the scene was “scary” and a potentially serious “security issue”.
Also read: Police Robots Will Be Deployed Across S’pore, You Can Talk To Officers Through Them
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Featured image adapted from The Sun.
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