In just ten years, European countries may face conflicts between humans and robots, just like in science fiction movies. This prediction was made by experts from the European Union police agencies in their report. It notes that robots will massively take over jobs in the delivery, cleaning and service sectors. This can cause a social explosion. People who have lost their livelihoods will start rioting in the streets against service robots. And terrorists will use drones to attack electricity and water facilities or release criminals from prisons. Parts of the report were published in The Daily Telegraph.
Researchers from Europol describe a society in which robots have become part of everyday life. Workers who lost their jobs in disadvantaged areas of the city took to the streets and attacked robots. “In this chaotic environment, even small mishaps, such as a robot therapist administering the wrong medication in a hospital, can become a national scandal, fueling populist calls to “put people first,” the report said.
According to one of Europol's most alarming predictions, cybercriminals could attack artificially intelligent robot assistants designed to care for vulnerable adults and children. These robots can then be programmed to gather information about victims and even prepare them for illegal actions. Researchers from the Europol Innovation Lab provided real-life examples of how robots fail or are used by criminals. So, in July 2022, a chess robot broke the finger of a 7-year-old Russian opponent during a tournament. About six months ago, Colombian police discovered an autonomous submarine, remotely controlled by the Starlink satellite, transporting 1.5 tons of cocaine to Europe. In September, California police stopped a car for drunk driving after the driver made an illegal U-turn but it turned out there was no driver behind the wheel. The report also highlights the growing trend of criminals using drones to smuggle illegal goods, spy on drug labs and even carry out attacks on police or rival gangs.
The Europol report also highlights that drone pilots are increasingly advertising their services online to crime lords. And police in Britain, Belgium, China and Australia have used drones equipped with net or laser weapons to destroy drones. CEO of Robot Corporation JSC Evgeniy Dudorov said:
Evgeniy Dudorov, CEO of Robot Group Joint Stock Company “Of course, there will be many social tensions, various misunderstandings about interaction, but everything will depend on how we build work with robot intelligence, on its essence. If we ensure that the laws that help robots protect human lives and are not respected, they will not be preserved. If we ourselves violate these actions, they will be violated. But what is being described now is much more, I would say, so far the future, because all the same, we still have a lot of work to do and first of all to regulate the laws of interaction between humans and robots.”
Robots can actually be harmful to humans, notes Ilya Pakhomov, head of product development at robotics laboratory Enjoy Robotics.
Ilya Pakhomov, head of product development, robotics laboratory Enjoy Robotics “It is natural that a robot can actually harm humans, because a robot is a mechanic, and when developing robots, the result is often pinched fingers or something worse. I think that when such products are launched in large quantities, this point will not be considered the least, if not the first, so we don't need to The robotization process will be so fast that people will give up en masse and there will be some kind of unrest. It seems to me that one way or another, all this will gradually happen. However, not everyone will immediately be able to robotize their production, while others, on the contrary, will refuse it. blocked in a certain way and we will learn to react to them in a certain way.
Europol is the European Union's police agency, coordinating the fight against international organized crime, terrorism and other serious crimes in the EU. It also ensures the exchange of information between national law enforcement agencies.
