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 pic.twitter.com/YldkZEneKG
— 🆂🅼🅾🅺🅴 (@terrill) December 2, 2021
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 🌈 (@jameelajamil) December 3, 2021
absolutely. the fuck. not https://t.co/VzY9qDsc9n
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) December 3, 2021
Just because we can...doesnt mean we should. pic.twitter.com/J8KNWiXGKL
— Estella Hamilton (@Estella60337614) December 2, 2021
How it’ll start vs How it’s going to go pic.twitter.com/MQQcRTy7NB
— Jacob Brill (@JacobbBrill) December 2, 2021
ahhh hell nah this ain’t it. https://t.co/E2aWkaIbRm
— iann dior (@ianndior) December 4, 2021
Please fucking don't theres a billion movies about why this shouldn't be done for a reason https://t.co/47UxNPA5KR
— AlbyTO (@Alby_The_Otaku) December 3, 2021
Nope.
— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) December 3, 2021
This is how it starts. https://t.co/2DaSNMua3c
I give us 12 years tops... https://t.co/cCRmD9mSfh
— J.D. (@jdwitherspoon) December 3, 2021
have y’all not played detroit become human? https://t.co/G2Qs0rlPV9
— A (@ThelChosen) December 4, 2021
Bro I cannot wait to plead for my life in front of an angry robot https://t.co/FM00iqghxh
— Joe Santagato (@JoeSantagato) December 3, 2021
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.
Why is everyone freaking out about this. The facial expressions are quit good. But these are preprogrammed. The machine isn't making these on it's own accord. You're watchin a pre-defined set to actions. It's like watching a movie or listening to a song that's been recorded.
— Silent Approval (@Silent_Approval) December 2, 2021
Twitter is freaking out over possibly being killed by some evolved state of this robot in the future
— ΜΔDΞRΔS (@hackermaderas) December 3, 2021
Meanwhile, there's any number of AI-assisted, automated/semi-autonomous robots armed with machine guns, sniper rifles, explosives, etc., being deployed today pic.twitter.com/JNHaWbI7kp
It's impressive as hell. Why are we all so freaked about robots killing us all? We seem to be doing a bang-up job of doing that ourselves.
— SuttonScience fully vaccinated 💉 wears a mask 😷 (@SuttonScience) December 2, 2021
This is a friendly comment from me just incase it sounds off but I honestly don't understand why so many people are put off by robots, I think they're awesome. People watching too much terminator 🤣, judgement day is coming!
— Jake Clutton 🏴🇬🇧 (@CluttonJake) December 2, 2021
Some even cracked a few jokes at the robot’s expense... let hope it can’t read Twitter comments.
When you’re about to pull a middle finger to your sibling but your mom walks in pic.twitter.com/BcnngE1dhJ
— Flower Boy C 🐝 (@95fries_) December 2, 2021
I just wanna know, wtf happened to this guy? pic.twitter.com/9E7AMScT1H
— purple prose (@LinusGreer) December 2, 2021
at precisely this moment the robot is calculating whether to punch you unconscious or make a non-threatening gesture of friendship. pic.twitter.com/S2AviN7nQD
— Mell (@MellDurango) December 2, 2021
"Would you like fries with that?" pic.twitter.com/QggmDSiuQB
— Alamo_On_The_Rise 😷🇺🇲 (@AlamoOnTheRise) December 2, 2021
Get Will Smith on the phone https://t.co/hIw7brRLoI
— • (@ItsJusBryan) December 3, 2021
Will Smith is at his weakest mentally & physically, please don’t do this. https://t.co/cFgPo3SeCe
— Donquixote Doflamingo (@ShMikeMeadly) December 3, 2021
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.
Why is everyone freaking out about this? It's clearly CG. 🤣 Made to look just a little rough, but still surfaces are too clean and movement is too smooth. Calm down. The day will come that the machines will, rise. But not today!
— Vilmar 🚀🎮 (@vilmar22) December 2, 2021
You have to admit that it's at least a little bit suspicious that the head looks SUBSTANTIALLY more advanced, without any reason given, after the cut. I'd be a lot less suspect if the guy had said something like "this is a more fine-tuned version of the same tech..."
— Sarcastodon (@Sarcastodonical) December 4, 2021
I thought this robot might be CG, but it looks like it’s real: https://t.co/c6cumIcq2y https://t.co/QLHtNOZHQG
— Kevin Hoctor (@kevinhoctor) December 3, 2021
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...
