Body cameras strapped onto his head, chest, and hands, David Park deftly folded a banquet napkin the way he has thousands of times during his nine years at the five-star Lotte Hotel Seoul. Each of his motions is fed into a database that will one day teach a robot to do the same. The hotel chain is one of many companies that South Korean artificial-intelligence startup RLWRLD (pronounced "real world") is working with to create an extensive library of human expertise, harvested from skilled workers across industries, to develop AI brains for robots that could be coming to industrial sites and homes, per the AP.
RLWRLD is among a wave of high-tech Korean firms and manufacturers competing in the fiercely contested global market for "physical AI," a term referring to machines equipped with AI and sensors that can perceive, decide, and act in real-world environments with some degree of autonomy, moving beyond conventional factory robots meant for repetitive tasks. Just as chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini train on troves of internet text, however, AI robots require extensive data on human action to handle advanced physical tasks.
RLWRLD's engineers say replicating the dexterity of human hands is a key priority, as they think humanoids will drive the field. The government last month announced a $33 million project to capture the "instinctive know-how and skills" of "master technicians" into a database for AI-powered manufacturing, hoping robots will boost productivity and offset an aging, shrinking workforce. The nation's AI push has unsettled labor groups, though, who fear robots could possibly take jobs and hollow out the skilled workforce long seen as the nation's competitive edge—the very asset it's now counting on for its AI transition.
"Mastery of skills is ultimately a human achievement—even if AI can replicate existing abilities, the continuous development of craft will remain fundamentally human," said Kim Seok, policy director at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. He noted that widespread robot deployments would risk "severing the pipeline" for skilled labor. His suggestion for the government and employers: Engage with workers over AI to win their buy-in and ease job concerns. More here.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
