The Conversation (0)
Sinead Butler
Dec 04, 2021
The internet has been spooked by a robot with scarily realistic features with many commenting how it’s only a matter of time before they take over the world.
Ameca is a robot designed by the British company Engineered Arts, who regularly post robotic content on their social media platforms - but this particular clip posted to their YouTube channel on Wednesday (December 1) has gone viral with over 680,000 views.
In the clip, Ameca can be seen snoozing with its eyes closed and face slouched down before it rotates its shoulder and suddenly awakens, opening its eyes before scoping out the room. Then the robot studies its hands and at the end of the clip, looks directly at the camera and gives a grin (not creepy at all...)
On the Engineered Arts website, it says that Ameca “contains some software which can be described as ‘artificially intelligent,’” but that its main purpose is to “be a platform for developing AI.”
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As well as going viral on YouTube, the video was uploaded to Twitter by user @terrill who appeared concerned at what he watched after he included the caption: “I don’t know man.”
I don’t know man https://t.co/YldkZEneKG— 𝚃𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕 (@𝚃𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕) 1638447983
It seems that everyone was also equally as fascinated and uncertain as the video has received a staggering 20m views, with the tweet receiving 285,000 likes, and over 100,000 shares in retweets and quote tweets, at the time of writing.
Of course, many people were not fans of Ameca and were concerned about what the robot could mean for humans in the future.
Nope. https://t.co/T3yPMgVRw9— Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@Jameela Jamil 🌈) 1638568336
absolutely. the fuck. not https://t.co/VzY9qDsc9n— chrissy teigen (@chrissy teigen) 1638557350
@terrill Just because we can...doesnt mean we should. https://t.co/J8KNWiXGKL— Estella Hamilton (@Estella Hamilton) 1638470055
@terrill How it’ll start vs How it’s going to go https://t.co/MQQcRTy7NB— Jacob Brill (@Jacob Brill) 1638470994
ahhh hell nah this ain’t it. https://t.co/E2aWkaIbRm— iann dior (@iann dior) 1638594065
Please fucking don't theres a billion movies about why this shouldn't be done for a reason https://t.co/47UxNPA5KR— AlbyTO (@AlbyTO) 1638566663
Nope. This is how it starts. https://t.co/2DaSNMua3c— Michael Harriot (@Michael Harriot) 1638512480
I give us 12 years tops... https://t.co/cCRmD9mSfh— J.D. (@J.D.) 1638503835
Bro I cannot wait to plead for my life in front of an angry robot https://t.co/FM00iqghxh— Joe Santagato (@Joe Santagato) 1638498537
While others didn’t understand why people were so freaked out by Ameca, noting that similar technology is being used in other products today and humans themselves are just as harmful to themselves.
@terrill Why is everyone freaking out about this. The facial expressions are quit good. But these are preprogrammed… https://t.co/TXETdCBuJW— Silent Approval (@Silent Approval) 1638472375
@terrill Twitter is freaking out over possibly being killed by some evolved state of this robot in the future Mean… https://t.co/Cn2tvvjv39— ΜΔDΞRΔS (@ΜΔDΞRΔS) 1638494801
@terrill It's impressive as hell. Why are we all so freaked about robots killing us all? We seem to be doing a bang… https://t.co/cMi9DD6iqM— SuttonScience vaxxed & boosted 💉 wears a mask 😷 (@SuttonScience vaxxed & boosted 💉 wears a mask 😷) 1638471388
@terrill This is a friendly comment from me just incase it sounds off but I honestly don't understand why so many… https://t.co/FnKiO7G55X— Jake Clutton 🏴🇬🇧 (@Jake Clutton 🏴🇬🇧) 1638462314
Some even cracked a few jokes at the robot’s expense... let hope it can’t read Twitter comments.
@terrill When you’re about to pull a middle finger to your sibling but your mom walks in https://t.co/BcnngE1dhJ— . (@.) 1638479697
@terrill I just wanna know, wtf happened to this guy? https://t.co/9E7AMScT1H— purple prose (@purple prose) 1638470375
@terrill at precisely this moment the robot is calculating whether to punch you unconscious or make a non-threateni… https://t.co/kiglKj3OQY— Mell (@Mell) 1638470924
@terrill "Would you like fries with that?" https://t.co/QggmDSiuQB— Alamo_On_The_Rise 😷🇺🇲 (@Alamo_On_The_Rise 😷🇺🇲) 1638471278
Get Will Smith on the phone https://t.co/hIw7brRLoI— • (@•) 1638554001
Elsewhere, people were debating if the robot was computer-generated or not.
Though, according to Engineered Arts, the robot is not CGI and was designed as a “platform for AI and human-robot interaction (HRI),” while also calling it the “most advanced humanoid robot” from their company.
@terrill Why is everyone freaking out about this? It's clearly CG. 🤣 Made to look just a little rough, but still su… https://t.co/pWkQcUKjlr— Vilmar 🚀🎮 (@Vilmar 🚀🎮) 1638488920
@Perpetual_Now @vilmar22 @terrill You have to admit that it's at least a little bit suspicious that the head looks… https://t.co/KolJuVuDdK— Sarcastodon (@Sarcastodon) 1638608124
I thought this robot might be CG, but it looks like it’s real: https://t.co/c6cumIcq2y https://t.co/QLHtNOZHQG— Kevin Hoctor (@Kevin Hoctor) 1638491091
There’s good news for those robot worriers out as Ameca cannot currently walk yet and can only move its upper body - however, there are future plans in “upgrading its abilities over time” to get Ameca walking, so watch this space...