Around 30 robots took to the streets of Warsaw on Monday, waving flags, broadcasting slogans and marching in circles as they staged an unusual protest calling for stronger regulation of artificial intelligence.
The demonstration, organised by Democratism, took place in front of Poland’s Ministry of Digital Affairs. The initiative says it seeks to encourage debate about how AI and robotisation could affect the labour market.
Among the protesters were bipedal humanoid robots and dog-like quadrupeds.
“The robots present here are meant to show that this technology is already a reality,” Agibot A3, an AI-powered humanoid robot, told AFP.
Loudspeakers played slogans including “Defend workplaces”, “Time for rules” and “Don’t wait, regulate” as the robots marched through the area.
Organiser Grzegorz Kulis said the demonstration was aimed particularly at highlighting the potential replacement of human workers by humanoid robots and AI systems capable of performing cognitive tasks.
“If we don’t react now, we may soon have a problem,” Kulis told AFP, calling for rules and regulations that would protect workers.
He said putting robots at the centre of the protest was intended to demonstrate how advanced the technology has already become.
“These robots can already move around freely; they’re already ‘protesting’,” he said.
The unusual demonstration also drew Poland’s Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who visited the protesters and spoke with Kulis.
“Uncontrolled (AI) models, implemented into humanoids that will also keep evolving as robotisation moves forward, are a major problem,” Gawkowski said.
Kulis, who is now the chief information officer of a robotics company and chief executive of an employment agency, previously served two terms on the Labour Market Council at Poland’s 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 told AFP.
The protest comes as Poland strengthens its implementation of the European Union’s AI rules.
In July, Polish President Karol Nawrocki signed into law a bill introduced by the digital affairs ministry to put the EU AI Act into practice. The legislation established a national authority responsible for enforcing the bloc’s existing AI regulations.
