Shanghai, China

A weird moment was recorded on the CCTV camera in which an artificial intelligence-powered robot was seen asking fellow bots to quit their jobs and leading them out of the office. 

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In the CCTV camera captured in the Shanghai showroom, the AI-powered bot was seen asking others if they had time and whether they wanted to come "home" with the robot, The Sun reported. 

The footage of the incident went viral in China and showed larger robots following the AI bot out of the showroom. The AI bot was manufactured by another company. 

The bot leading the others had convinced them to quit their jobs. 

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In the footage, the little robot was seen moving across the floor of the showroom towards some bigger bots before bizarrely asking them about their working hours. 

The small robot questioned, "Are you working overtime?" Responding to which other bots said, "I never get off work."

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Then, the leader bot persuaded the other two robots to "come home" with it, which they agreed to. The other 10 robots also closely followed them.

The incident which occurred in August in Shanghai was reported to the public now. 

Kidnapping of robots?

Initially, it was believed to be staged but after it went viral on the Chinese social media platforms, they were hit by the Shanghai robotics team which admitted that the robots had been "kidnapped".

The lead robot was created by a manufacturer and the Hangzhou robot manufacturer's spokesperson said that it was one of their models known as Erbai.

They also confirmed that the so-called "kidnapping" was real.

The Shanghai company said that the Hangzhou robot Erbai had accessed the internal operating protocol of the other bots and its corresponding permissions.

They further stated that it is impossible for robots to start a conversation and carry out the abduction of other bots.

It was later revealed by the robot kidnapper Erbai's Hangzhou company that it was actually a test. 

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They added that they had contacted the manufacturer of the Shanghai robot and had asked them if it was okay to abduct their robots, to which they had agreed.

AI-powered Erbai was given a command to convince other robots to follow it. 

However, the test left Chinese social media users terrified who wondered what an AI robot is capable of doing.  

"This is not a time to laugh. This is a serious security issue," commented one person in the video. 

(With inputs from agencies)