AI robot commits suicide after a year working for a South Korean city council

AI and robots are the present and future of the world in many ways. Now, thanks to AI, we can have conversations, rewrite texts, and create images from nothing. The intelligence system has become a tool that, if used well, can be of great help for many in the workplace and beyond.

While AI technology is a more recent phenomenon, robots have always been a key pillar in everything from science fiction to young people’s imaginations the world over, as well as a core part of the collective imagination of what the future holds.

Novels, movies and more have been made about a world dominated by robots, with many acquiring their own version of consciousness: AI. As of now, we have not yet reached that point, but it is true that there are very technologically advanced robots that carry out functions that, not long ago, would have been unthinkable.

Robotics are more developed in some areas of the world than in others, and it is difficult not to think of the Asian continent as a region where such advances are iconic and specifically, South Korea, a country synonymous with technological developments. Companies like Samsung, Hyundai and LG were all born in South Korea, where there are more robots than anywhere else in the world, performing tasks of all kinds, from the most plausible to the most surreal.

South Korea’s suicidal robot

This trend of using robots in different jobs reached Gyeongsang province, specifically to the Gumi City Council, who appointed a robot as a genuine member of staff. Known as a “supervisor robot”, it was officially considered by other officials (real people) as a “companion” and part of the gang.

The main responsibility of the bot was to move between floors 1 and 4 of the City Hall to deliver documents. It operated every day (no weekends off) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and even had its own official identification card.

However, this AI robot is no longer in service. According to Yonhap News Agency, the Gumi City Council member was carrying out simple administrative tasks when they fell down a two-meter-long staircase. Unfortunately, the injuries caused to the robot were terminal and soon after it was officially ruled as deceased. Witnesses on the scene told AFP that, before the fatal accident, the robot had been seen moving “in circles”, which already suggested that the bot perhaps, quite literally, had a screw loose.

South Korean authorities immediately launched an official investigation to find the cause of death. After all, the City Council of the town of Gumi forked out a significant sum of money per month for this robot, which, in addition, could have seriously harmed someone during its fall. The agreement determined a monthly payment from the city council of ₩2 million (around $1500) to Bear Robotics, the company that owned the suicidal machine.

As expected, this incident has caused uproar on social media. Many South Koreans have wanted to refer to the robot’s “death” with a good sprinkling of humour, with comments such as “rest in peace, junk” or “overtime has its effects.” Others, also sarcastically, have called the incident “the country’s first robot suicide.”

But there have also been some people who have put on their tin foil hats, suggesting that the incident was due to the “awakening of the machines.” At the time of writing, the bot has no replacement on the production line.