The past six years have been a remarkable, exciting, and somewhat disconcerting time for Artificial Intelligence. Since the rise of ChatGPT, it’s no longer the realm of science fiction and doomsday scenarios. It’s here. It’s already a multi-billion-dollar industry. It’s likely to become a trillion-dollar industry by the end of the decade.
I’ve certainly done plenty to make my opinions on the present and future of AI apparent. At the moment, AI is not close to become as smart or as capable as an average human. I still don’t think that capability is likely until the 2030s at the earliest. However, AI doesn’t need to be superintelligent in order to be useful. It can still do many amazing things as it evolves to that state.
Now, we can officially add Kung Fu to that list. In a video posted by Unitree, a Chinese robotics company, we’ve actually created a robot with the dexterity and capabilities that allow it to do Kung Fu.
Thus far, there’s no indication that this is a hoax, CGI, or some guy in a suit. This is real. This is an actual robot doing Kung Fu.
Now, before you start making Terminator or Skynet jokes, take comfort in knowing that this robot is not running on pure AI. It’s more likely that it’s simply following a set of scripted moves that were pre-programmed. The fact that the video also has some obvious cuts for editing indicate that its operation was less than perfect.
Even so, let’s at least agree it’s inherently awesome, as a concept. Seriously, it’s a robot doing Kung Fu! If you can’t find any joy or astonishment in that, then you’re just being fatalistic.
Also, in terms of AI that should seriously concern you, this isn’t it. A robot like this has some serious limitations that aren’t going to be overcome anytime soon. Beyond the fact that it can only work on pre-programmed moves means it’s not a threat to anyone, regardless of their fighting experience. At most, it’s just a cool demonstration of how far robotics technology has progressed.
It’s also a technology that is likely to develop alongside artificial intelligence. We’ve had robots for decades, but their usage is limited to a narrow range of tasks. Pre-programming a robot, be it a human android or an arm, is not that difficult. There are robotics labs for high school students in some areas.
For now, that’s more than enough to make robots useful. They can function perfectly well in certain industries and even as toys for kids. They really don’t need advanced AI to be functional at the moment.
That is most likely to change in the coming years. A robot with the dexterity and reflexes to do Kung Fu would be very useful if it could also have a measure of general intelligence. Such a robot wouldn’t be restricted to one pre-programmed task. It could actually learn a whole host of tasks, which would make it useful in any number of industries, including a few in which robots have never ventured.
That time is likely coming in the near future, but it’s hard to say when. I still believe robots need a ChatGPT-like moment to really enter the mainstream. But with companies like Unitree pushing their capabilities to new lengths, it’s possible that moment will come sooner rather than later.
And when it does, we’ll have far more pressing concerns than a robot’s ability to do Kung Fu.
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