Rogue AI? Chess-playing robot in Russia turns violent mid-match and breaks a 7-year-old boy’s finger

A chess-playing robot arm broke a seven-year-old's finger when it grabbed the child's hand during a chess match in Moscow, Russia.

A chess tournament held in Moscow (Russia) turned violent when the chess-playing robot broke a young competitor’s finger.

Videos of the event have been circulating social media, triggering astonishment globally.

But what happened at the chess tournament? And is it truly a case of “rogue” artificial intelligence?

What happened at the Chess tournament in Moscow?

The video circulating on social media shows a large robotic arm which is programmed to play multiple chess games simultaneously.

It grabs the finger of a 7-year-old opponent as he goes to make his move.

Once ensnared by the robot, three men rush to assist the boy, freeing his finger after a painful 15 seconds.

This left the young chess competitor with a fractured finger.

Why did the Chess robot attack the boy?

President of the Moscow Chess Federation, Sergey Lazarev, described the “malfunction” that occurred while talking to Russian news source TASS.

According to Lazarev, the young boy had already made a move, but rushed to make another and “we need to give time for the robot to answer, but the boy hurried and the robot grabbed him.”

The Russian chess grandmaster, Sergey Karjakin, described the incident as “some kind of software error or something… this has never happened before.

“There are such accidents. I wish the boy good health.”

Did the young opponent leave the Chess competition?

The TASS report revealed that although the boy was unable to move the chess pieces by himself due to his fractured finger, he still continued competing the next day with assistance from volunteers.

Lazarev said: “The child played the very next day, finished the tournament, and volunteers helped to record the moves.”

Should we worry about dangerous artificial intelligence?

The controversy of ‘rogue’ artificial intelligence (AI) has stormed headlines again recently.

This, and other events like the Google employee who was fired after claiming Google’s LaMDA AI was sentient, have alarmed many.

In the words of the European Parliament: “AI applications that are in physical contact with humans or integrated into the human body could pose safety risks as they may be poorly designed, misused or hacked.

“Poorly regulated use of AI in weapons could lead to loss of human control over dangerous weapons.”

There are several different causes for concern over AI, from malicious machine intelligence to mass unemployment caused by human redundancy as machines replace the workforce.

Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, has also raised his concerns over the advancement of AI, comparing their danger to that of nuclear weapons.