Waving flags, “chanting” slogans and marching in circles, around 30 robots took to the streets of Warsaw on Monday to campaign for AI regulation in front of Poland’s digital affairs ministry.
The protest was organised by Democratism, an initiative that, according to its website, aims to launch debate on how AI and robotisation affect the labour market.
In a scene that blurred the line between protest and product demonstration, one of the machines fielded questions directly from journalists.
“The robots present here are meant to show that this technology is already a reality,” Agibot A3, one of the AI-powered humanoid robots, said — a statement that proved its own point rather neatly.
Chants of “Defend workplaces,” “Time for rules” and “Don’t wait, regulate” played on loudspeakers as the robots — which ranged from bipedal humanoids to dog-like quadrupeds — demonstrated.
“We particularly want to address the issue of the potential replacement of people both by humanoid robots and by artificial intelligence in cognitive work,” said (human) organiser Grzegorz Kuliś.
“If we don’t react now, we may soon have a problem,” he added, emphasising the need for “rules and regulations that would serve as a shield protecting workers”.
Aside from attracting the attention of several passers-by, Kuliś said the use of robots was meant to demonstrate their existing capabilities and, by extension, the urgency of the issue.
“These robots can already move around freely, they’re already ‘protesting,'” he said — leaving unaddressed the question of whether a machine reading out a pre-loaded chant counts as protesting at all.
Minister comes out to meet organisers
The marching robots were met with a visit from Poland’s Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who spoke to Kuliś on site.
“Uncontrolled (AI) models, implemented into humanoids that will also keep evolving as robotisation moves forward, are a major problem,” he said.
Kuliś, who is now the chief information officer of a robotics company and chief executive of an employment agency, served two terms on the Labour Market Council at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.
“We feel responsible for starting to inform society about the rapid and dynamic technological changes which personally frighten us,” he said.
Who’s behind the machines
Local Polish outlet Opolska360 reported that the robots used in Monday’s protest were built by Delta Robots, a company that has been producing both humanoid and quadruped machines for more than a decade.
Kuliś is also president of Weegree, a recruitment firm that has operated for more than 20 years — both companies are based in Opole, in southern Poland.
That detail sharpens the irony at the heart of Monday’s demonstration, as the robots warning of job losses were built by the very industry sounding the alarm about them.
Opolska360 also quoted Kuliś describing Democratism as a movement he hopes will go international, saying the goal is “not to fight change, robotics or technological development,” but to launch a debate on its consequences and how to counter the negative effects.
According to the outlet, Gawkowski told the gathered protesters that Poland is the first EU country to introduce oversight of the AI market and announced plans to set up a Commission for the Development and Security of Artificial Intelligence, along with regulatory sandboxes that would let companies test AI solutions before wider rollout.
In July, Poland’s conservative-nationalist President Karol Nawrocki signed into law a bill put forward by the ministry to implement the EU’s AI Act.
It created a national authority capable of enforcing existing EU regulations, which had already formally come into force.
Additional sources • AFP