Robot civil servant in South Korea commits “suicide”
The android threw itself off the stairs after being employed for less than a year at a city hall in South Korea
By Ava Grace
July 7, 2024
A civil servant robot in South Korea's North Gyeongsang province committed "suicide" by hurling itself down a flight of stairs.
The robotic assistant ‘employed’ at the Gumi City Council in South Korea ended its existence while at work, plunging into a stairwell, that the robot had ostensibly deactivated itself, the administrative body announced on Wednesday.
An official with the city council recalled that a week prior, the robot had been seen "spinning in one place as if something was wrong" before falling two meters from the top of a staircase. "Parts of the robot have been collected and will be analyzed by the manufacturer," the official added.
California-based startup Bear Robotics made the robotic assistant, which was assigned to an administrative role at the council last August.
It worked transporting documents around the city hall, assisting visitors and promoting the city.
Unlike most robots confined to a single floor, the robot could call an elevator and move between floors on its own.
The now-deactivated robot worked from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and even had its civil service officer card. Following its demise, the city council said there are no plans to adopt a replacement for it as of writing.
The machine’s demise has left the city hall’s staff deeply saddened; no plans to adopt a new robot are currently under consideration. “It is officially part of the city hall, a member of us. It has worked hard,” a city hall official said.
Officials, media mourn "death" of Gumi's robot civil servant
The incident has been touted by local media as the first-ever “robot suicide” to happen in the country.
However, the droid was preceded in ‘death’ by an incident in Washington, DC, when a security robot named Steve drowned himself in a water fountain.
Footage of Steve laying on his side near his human colleagues promptly went viral at the time, triggering a wave of gallows humor questioning the preciousness of artificial life.
However, it was later found that the Steve robot's demise wasn't because of a "glitch" that made it self-delete.
The ‘self-delete’ hypothesis, however, was later debunked, as Steve’s black box data indicated that the machine had slipped on a “loose brick surface” and fallen prey to a tragic accident rather than dark thoughts.
Steve reportedly drowned in a decorative water fountain after five steps in, with pictures of it laying on its side making the rounds on social media.
Users also put in their two cents on the incident at the time, "triggering a wave of gallows humor questioning the preciousness of artificial life" as per Russia Today.
Local media outlets also picked up on the incident, running headlines with questions such as "Why did the diligent civil officer do it?" and "Was work too hard for the robot?"
"It was officially a part of the city hall, one of us. It worked diligently," said another city official.
Social media has also been abuzz with reactions ranging from poignant tributes to the fallen robot to serious discussions about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence (AI) sentience and the potential for robot suffering.
One user went against the grain, expressing in a post their hopes that the robot "rests in peace."
(Related: 99.9% CHANCE: Top Scientist Predicts Artificial Intelligence (AI) Wipeout of Humanity)
South Korea is one of the most enthusiastic users of robots globally. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the country has one industrial robot for every 10 employees.
Head over to Robots.news for more similar stories.
Watch this video about humanoid robots in Japan that can detect if customers are wearing face masks.
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