Humanoid Robots Malfunction and Attack; Sparks Debate Over AI Safety and Liability

A viral video released from an undisclosed Chinese factory shows a humanoid robot malfunctioning and attacking the factory workers. The Unitree H1, a product of the Chinese company Unitree Robotics, can be seen flailing its arms as workers move away to protect themselves. The robot was hung on a crane, and the workers were not injured in the incident and were able to regain control of the humanoid robot. The incident was attributed to a coding error.

Another video, widely shared from February 2025, shows another Unitree robot lunging towards people at the Spring Festival Gala in Tianjin. Security stabilized the robot and pulled it back before it harmed anybody in the crowd.

This humanoid robot model is available for sale for $90,000 and only utilizes AI technology. Some companies have developed “brain-on-chip” technology, which uses lab-grown human brain cells with silicon chips to control the robots. The latest videos from the AI robots have brought more skepticism of all advanced robotic technology, with some comparing this to a real-world Hollywood robot apocalypse.

The Unitree H1 broke a Guinness World Record for the fastest walking speed of a humanoid robot at 7.38 miles. This speed is often considered a jogging pace by humans, but it is considered walking because there is always one foot in contact with the ground. The robot is about 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 104 pounds.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned about AI technology in 2014. He said, “I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I were to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it’s probably that. So we need to be very careful with artificial intelligence. Increasingly, scientists think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, and he’s like — yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon? Didn’t work out.”

The recent videos of malfunctioning humanoid robots that are commercially available raise concerns that the technology is moving faster without appropriate safeguards in place. The humanoid robot market is expected to grow by 70.4% over the next four years, a growth of $59.18 billion according to Technavio. It is unknown how many humanoid robots have been commercially sold.

“Brain organoid systems could exhibit key aspects of intelligence and sentience,” Gary Miller, vice dean for research strategy at Columbia University, said in 2023. “OI [organoid intelligence] blurs the line between human cognition and machine intelligence, and the technology and biology are advancing at a speed that could outpace the ethical and moral discussions that are needed. This emerging field must take a vigorous approach to addressing the ethical and moral issues that come with this type of scientific advancement and must do so before the technology crashes into the moral abyss.”

China is the leader in this technology, manufacturing 63% of the global components used for robot production. President of the International Federation of Robotics, Marina Bill, said that China installed 60,000 industrial robots 10 years ago, and that number has risen to 290,000.

In the case of the viral video where the humanoid robot put the factory workers in physical danger, determining the exact root cause can change who is liable for a similar incident. Some experts have indicated that the program setting, sensor, or coding error did not cause the robot’s erratic behavior. Shisha News reported “They [the experts] pointed out that the H1’s actions were entirely the result of programming limitations meeting unexpected physical constraints—not a deviation from its fundamental programming.”

There are no adequate regulations for this developing technology, and the debate about the underlying cause shows that the robot operator might be deemed liable.

Tesla has created its version of a humanoid robot called Optimus, and the company released a video yesterday showing the robot dancing. Milan Kovac, a Tesla engineer, said the robot has a connected cable to prevent it from falling and not to restrain the robot.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said last month, “Robots will surpass good human surgeons within a few years and the best human surgeons within ~5 years.” He shared an X post by Mario Mawfal describing a robot surgeon called Metronic that had a 98.5% success rate, significantly higher than the 85% goal.

Meanwhile, the X page for the Tesla Optimus describes the product as “A general-purpose, bipedal, humanoid robot capable of performing tasks that are unsafe, repetitive, or boring.” Another video shows the robot folding laundry slowly, but effectively.

Last year, an X user asked “Would you copy your brain into an Optimus to live longer after your physical body died?” Musk responded, “Eventually, you will probably be able to upload a good approximation of your memories & mind state to ‘the cloud’ with the ability to download it to a humanoid robot. You obviously won’t be quite the same as you are today.”

A widely shared video of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about the potential of AI friends. “The average American has fewer than 3 friends, 3 people they consider friends,” Zuckerberg said. “And the average person has demand for meaningfully more. 15 friends or something. The average person wants more connectivity, connection than they have.”

Zuckerberg added, “Today, there might be a little bit of a stigma around… I would guess that over time, we’ll find the vocabulary as a society to articulate why that is valuable and why the people who are doing these things. Why they’re rational and why it’s adding value to their lives”