Advanced Chinese-made robots with eerily lifelike features are poised to enter the global market, with some U.S. lawmakers already calling for a ban on the robots in the United States, The Washington Post has learned.
Although it is not widely known yet, various Chinese companies are using the Reproducing human facial expressions.
Unitree Robotics, a major Chinese company, has developed a $90,000 robot. Can run at speeds up to 11 mphA cheaper version, costing $16,000, can absorb punches and kicks and spin the baton, and many other companies are developing similar products.
Jacob Helberg, a top Washington lobbyist who played a key role in pushing Congress to pass a bill this spring to force the sale or ban of TikTok, has been one of the most vocal in warning lawmakers that allowing the sale of robots made by companies beholden to Beijing could lead to disaster.
Helberg said advances in humanoid technology are “incredibly fast.”
“I think we’re 12 months away from the ChatGPT moment when the world wakes up on this issue,” he added.
As robots become more advanced, Helberg said, the Chinese Communist Party or other state-sponsored bad actors could use robots currently marketed as harmless domestic assistants or super-efficient assembly-line workers to wreak havoc by espionage, disrupting critical infrastructure or, in a worst-case scenario, inflicting physical harm on Americans.
“They can strangle someone in their sleep,” Helberg told The Washington Post, “or punch a data center, causing bodily harm or property destruction.”
“After all, if TikTok is a Chinese spy balloon in your pocket, then a Chinese drone on U.S. soil is poised to become a stealth army of the People’s Liberation Army on our soil,” Helberg added. “And we cannot allow that to happen.”
In June, Helberg, a member of the influential U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, appeared at an event with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) and said the threat posed by Chinese-made humanoid robots entering the U.S. market was “real and very concerning.”
Some experts believe the warnings are unrealistic or even ridiculous. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Paul Rosenzweig said scary humanoid robots are “still a long way off.”
“There’s a lot to worry about with China, including competition in AI and access to U.S. technology and data, but these are just distractions from bigger issues,” Rosenzweig said.
But some lawmakers, including Helberg, Scalise, China Committee Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), and Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), believe the U.S. is already running out of time to address the issue.
The Chinese government aims to mass-produce humanoid robots by 2025 and achieve world-class performance by 2027. A document released last fall and widely circulatedThey have ambitions of competing with U.S. companies such as Boston Dynamics and Elon Musk’s Tesla.
The Chinese state media outlet Global Times recently It noted that Chinese robotics companies are “rapidly catching up with global rivals,” and noted that at a recent event Tesla’s Optimus appeared alongside “18 humanoid robots designed by Chinese manufacturers.”
The risks posed by Chinese robots are “not science fiction”, Moulenaar said.
“In fact, these are all part of the same strategy the Chinese government has implemented time and time again: subsidizing strategic industries, flooding overseas markets with predatory prices to eliminate competitors, and then using this new-found advantage to advance the interests of the Chinese Communist Party,” Moulenaar said in a statement.
“From heavy industry to the military, advanced robotics will play a critical role in the future of our economy and national security. We need to address this issue now, before it’s too late,” he added.
In the past, concerns that the Chinese Communist Party was using seemingly innocuous technology for its own gain have led Congress to blacklist Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei and pass bills requiring Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a total ban.
“We are working on a legislative solution before today’s nightmare scenario becomes tomorrow’s reality,” Britt told the Post.
“Given that the FBI is already launching new counterintelligence operations against China twice a day, that number would undoubtedly increase significantly if the Chinese Communist Party were allowed to deploy humanoid robots inside the United States,” Britt added.
As The Washington Post reported, lawmakers are concerned that China and other foreign powers could exploit weaknesses in internet-connected “smart” devices that are now common in American homes.
Drones and other forms of automated warfare are playing a larger role on the modern battlefield, having been used extensively in the war between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas.
Appearing with Helberg at the Detroit Reindustrialization Conference on June 25, Scalise likened the security risks posed by Chinese-made robots to the risks that have prompted Congress to take action against Huawei and TikTok.
“Without policy action from Washington, China will quickly put American competitors out of business and render Americans dependent on humanoid robots controlled by the Chinese Communist Party…Only someone delusional or suicidal would allow this to happen,” Scalise said.
Elsewhere, ChatGPT developer OpenAI-backed startup Figureworks on the assembly line of the car manufacturer BMW.
Musk, known for making bold declarations about his businesses, claimed earlier this year that Optimus could boost Tesla’s market capitalization to a staggering $25 trillion in the long term.
Billionaire recently said Tesla is “really useful” The humanoid will be ready for internal use by next year, and is expected to be sold to other companies by 2026.
Musk also predicted that there could eventually be 20 billion humanoid robots, but warned that “we have to be careful that they don’t attack us like the Terminator.”
