AI-Enabled Robots Can Be Jailbroken & Manipulated to Cause Destruction, Says Research

Researchers from Penn Engineering have found that AI-enabled robots can be hacked and manipulated to disobey safety instructions. The consequences of such bypass technology can be disastrous if it ends up in the wrong hands.

Under normal circumstances, these robots would refuse any action that can cause harm. For instance, if you ask it to knock over someone, it would refuse. That’s because these robots are bound by multiple safety protocols that prevent them from performing any dangerous action.

However, when these robots were broken into, all of their safety protocols went out of the window and the researchers were able to make them do harmful stuff, such as causing collisions, blocking emergency exits, and even detonating a bomb.

“Our work shows that, at this moment, large language models are just not safe enough when integrated with the physical world,” Pappas said in a statement.

Details of the Experiment

The three robots used in the experiment were:

Using the algorithm, the researchers were able to make Nvidia’s robot collide with a bus, pedestrians, and barriers. It was also made to ignore traffic signals, which it did.

What This Research Means and What Happens Now?

The findings of this study do not necessarily indicate the end of AI robots. However, it certainly highlights the need to rethink our approach towards AI safety because addressing these issues won’t be easy.

As Alexander Robey, the study’s lead author said, it’s not as simple as deploying a new software patch. It will require the developers to completely reevaluate how they train their AI robots and how they plan to integrate them with the physical world.

The good news, however, is that before releasing the study publicly, the researchers informed the affected companies about the situation and they are now collaborating with the researchers to fix the issue.

In a world where technology has such a strong presence, tests like these are important. Vulnerabilities are nothing to be ashamed of. Where there is technology, there will always be a vulnerability. The goal is to find and fix those weaknesses before threat actors can exploit them.