Irish Examiner view: Robot chess contestant makes wrong move

AI systems are meant to emulate humans but the chess-playing robot at a Russian tournament showed a violent, darker side

The video showed the boy’s finger being pinched for several seconds by the robotic arm of the AI chess contestant. Picture: TASS/Guardian

For those pursuing the role artificial intelligence (AI) can play in modern society, there was something of a blip in Moscow recently when a chess-playing robot broke the finger of a seven-year-old boy it was playing in a tournament.

The robot displayed a level of petulance normally associated with humans rather than machines they have created.