Watch: Tiny robot ‘kidnaps’ 12 big Chinese bots from a Shanghai showroom, shocks world

The rise of AI brought many significant changes to innovations, making positive transformations in our lives by completing multiple tasks in a more efficient and faster way. However, there have been major concerns related to AI as it's feared that it can get out of control from human's approach and may start working against us.

In one such incident, a little AI robot convinced a dozen large robots to stop working and come home with him.

The incident occurred on August 26 this year in Shanghai but has been recently made public.

Hangzhou created 'kidnapper' robot

The video of the incident went viral on social media. It shows the smaller AI-powered robot successfully persuading the other 12 robots to quit their jobs.

The AI robot Erbai, which abducted other 12 robots, is developed by a Hangzhou robot manufacturer. Erbai kidnapped other 12 robot at a Shanghai robotics showroom.

Erbai initially asked one of the large robots, “Are you working overtime?”

To which a large robot replies, “I never get off work”.

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Then Erbai asked, “So you’re not going home?”

“I don’t have a home,” replied the large robot.

Then come home with me,” said the AI robot before leading the way out of the showroom.

As two large robots followed Erbai, the other ten robots also started following him as Erbai uttered the command "Go home."

Incident was real

The bizarre video got quite a lot of attention online after being posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, and while many initially found it amusing, the amusement turned to a sense of terror as both the original poster of the video and the company whose robots got “kidnapped” confirmed that it was genuine, reported Oddity Central.

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https://twitter.com/gerceklerfark/status/1858501239597617192

A week ago, the Hangzhou robot manufacturer confirmed that the incident was real and the kidnapping actually took place.

Erbai accessed the internal operating protocol of the Shanghai company's bots and its corresponding permissions.

Incident was a test

It was yet believed that such actions would be almost impossible for a robot, which actually initiated a conversation and abducted 12 large robots.

However, the Hangzhou company later revealed that the incident was a test.

The Hangzhou company maintains that they contacted the Shanghai robot manufacturer and asked if they would allow their robots to be abducted - which they agreed. But beyond this agreement, nothing was reportedly staged. Erbai, who is AI powered, was granted the command to convince the other robots to follow it, which they did, reported The Sun.

However, the developer also emphasized that the “kidnapping” did not take place entirely according to the script. During the design process, the developer only wrote some basic instructions for Erbai, such as shouting “go home” and simple communication commands. The rest of the interaction is the real-time dialogue between Erbai and the robot group as recorded by the camera.

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