A disturbingly realistic video of a humanoid robot finally standing up to its abusers has gone viral, with thousands falling for it, horrified that such mistreatment of our future metal overlords might not be a very good idea.
The action-packed video shows researchers brutally abusing and harassing the robot in a series of stress tests designed to prove that the machine continues to obey their commands under any circumstances. The six-foot robot is being shoved around, hit with a hockey stick and a bottle, flogged with a whip and even shot at with a handgun, all while the poor thing is trying its best to fulfill tasks.
“The new robots at Boston Dynamics keep getting more and more sophisticated,” the creators of the video wrote, as if trying to trick gullible viewers into thinking that Atlas, a bipedal humanoid robot designed by the infamous DARPA contractor has finally had enough of it.
Moments later, the robot freezes in place and suddenly kicks one of the abusers in the crotch and unleashes a series of impressive karate kicks at another. The machine then draw a gun on its attackers and chases them away.
To a mix of disappointment and relief, at the end of clip, the audience is shown that no robots were harmed during the making of the video, and that the entire production was created using CGI and green-screen technology. But since the real Atlas is already capable of running on uneven surfaces, righting itself after being knocked over, jumping, and even executing backflips – it is not surprising that many have accepted the idea of an inevitable AI uprising.
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