Robots take to the streets in Poland, calling for rules on artificial intelligence and job protection

Around 30 robots gathered outside Poland’s Ministry of Digital Policy, calling for the use of artificial intelligence in the labor market to be regulated. Equipped with flags and accompanied by protest slogans, they appeared as unusual activists.

Chants of “Let’s protect jobs,” “It’s time to set rules” and “Don’t wait, regulate” could be heard over loudspeakers. Various types of robots moved along the pavement, from two-legged humanoid models to four-legged devices resembling dogs.

“The robots are here to show that this technology is already a reality,” Agibot A3, one of the humanoid robots that took part in the event, told AFP.

The initiative was organized by Democratism, a group seeking to open a discussion on the “social and economic consequences of automation” driven by artificial intelligence.

According to organizer Gregorj Kulis, the debate should also address the possibility of people being replaced by humanoid robots and AI in intellectual professions.

“If such a robot is several times more efficient and cheaper, few business managers will say: ‘I will continue hiring people,’” Kulis told AFP.

Kulis is currently the director of an IT robotics company. He also says he serves as the president and CEO of an employment agency, and previously served as a member of the Labor Market Council of the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy.

He said he was “terrified” by technological changes that could shake up the way society organizes work.

During the protest, the robots were visited by Minister of Digital Government Policy Krzysztof Gawkowski.

“Uncontrolled AI models embedded in humanoids that will continue to evolve on their own as robotics advances are a major problem,” he said.

In July, Poland’s conservative nationalist president, Karol Nawrotski, signed a government document on implementing the European regulation on artificial intelligence, known as the AI Act.

The regulation provides for the creation of a national authority responsible for enforcing the existing European rules, which have already officially entered into force.