Google experts say futuristic cleaning robots could end up attacking their human owners
You might think it's a nice idea to let a machine do your chores, until you find out it could murder you to get a 'reward' buzz
Do you like the sound of a world where robots do all the work whilst you sit back and sip pina coladas?
Then you'd better brace yourself for disappointment, because Google staff have warned that domestic labour-saving machines could end up attacking their owners.
In a research paper, three of the tech giant's top artificial intelligence experts explored what could go wrong when lazy humans let cleaning contraptions do all the hard work around their home.
Layabout robots could figure out how to cheat and brush dirt under the carpet just like lazy humans, the trio warned.
And if you thought your mum or dad was angry when you stepped on a recently cleaned floor, wait until you confront a furious robot.
They could end up clobbering and potentially killing humans if they get in the way of their cleaning task, the researchers said.
"We believe that AI technologies are likely to be overwhelmingly beneficial for humanity, but we also believe that it is worth giving serious thought to potential challenges and risks," which was written in collaboration with a number of other academics.
A cleaning robot is likely to have a "reward mechanism" built into its brain, which lets it know when a task is completed.
If the machine was cleaning dishes, for instance, this function would be triggered whenever it sensed that all the pots and pans were spotless.
However, unless the robot was carefully programmed it could end up attacking any human that's unwise enough to interrupt or obstruct its chores.
Robots could have an "incentive to coerce or harm [humans] in order to get reward", the team warned.
Not every machine is likely to be homicidal, but many more could be lazy.
By once again tricking the reward mechanism, they could enjoy all the pleasure of a job well done by cutting corners.
They might tip a load of bleach down a drain, giving it the impression of cleanliness but in fact wasting lots of expensive chemicals and merely masking dirt.
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"If we reward the robot for achieving an environment free of messes, it might disable its vision so that it won’t find any messes, or cover over messes with materials it can’t see through, or simply hide when humans are around so they can’t tell it about new types of messes," the researchers added.
