Chess-Playing Robot Breaks 7-Year-Old Finger

We all know that machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have made considerable strides in recent years, and robots could take over our jobs someday. Still, we don’t often consider them dangerous (sci-fi aside). Unfortunately, a chess match between a chess-playing robot and a young child ended with a broken finger.

The incident happened in a Moscow chess tournament where the robot mistook the child’s finger for a chess piece and put mechanical pressure, breaking the index finger. Two adults freed the finger, and the child finished the tournament with a cast.

The parents are distraught and pointed out that steps should be taken to avoid these accidents. It’s hard to disagree. The force required to move chess pieces should not be high enough to break one’s finger.

Additionally, this seems like a case of AI gone wrong since the robot grabbed something that was not a chess piece and was evident to the subsequent resistance.

This incident might make people ponder about having domestic robots that could potentially help us with house chores or lift hefty loads. Could they hurt those they are supposed to help? It depends on how performant the AI is.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Robots
Tags: chess, russia