{"slug": "robots-protest-rampant-ai-in-poland", "title": "Robots protest rampant AI in Poland", "summary": "Around 30 robots marched through Warsaw on Monday in a protest organized by the Democratism initiative to demand AI regulation outside Poland's digital affairs ministry, according to AFP. Organizer Grzegorz Kulis said the group wants \"rules and regulations that would serve as a shield protecting workers\" against replacement by humanoid robots and AI in cognitive work, and Polish digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski met with Kulis on-site, calling uncontrolled AI models implemented into humanoids \"a major problem.\" The demonstration follows Poland's July enactment of a bill implementing the EU AI Act, which created a national authority to enforce the bloc's regulations.", "body_md": "# Robots protest rampant AI in Poland\n\n##### Andrew Zinin\n\nChief Editor\n\nWaving flags, \"chanting\" slogans and marching in circles, around 30 robots took to the streets of Warsaw on Monday to campaign for AI regulation in front of the Polish digital affairs ministry.\n\nThe protest was organized by Democratism, an initiative that, according to its website, aims to launch debate \"on how [AI and robotization affect the labor market](https://techxplore.com/news/2025-04-ai-impact-percent-jobs-worldwide.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal).\"\n\n\"The robots present here are meant to show that this technology is already a reality,\" Agibot A3, one of the AI-powered humanoid robots, told AFP.\n\nChants of \"Defend workplaces,\" \"Time for rules\" and \"Don't wait, regulate\" played on loudspeakers as the robots—which ranged from bipedal humanoids to doglike quadrupeds—demonstrated.\n\n\"We particularly want to address the issue of the [potential replacement of people](https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-humanoid-robots-hurdles-human-labor.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal) both by humanoid robots and by artificial intelligence in cognitive work,\" organizer Grzegorz Kulis told AFP.\n\n\"If we don't react now, we may soon have a problem,\" he added, emphasizing the need for \"rules and regulations that would serve as a shield protecting workers.\"\n\nAside from attracting the attention of several passers-by, Kulis said the use of robots was meant to show their existing capabilities and thereby the urgency of the situation.\n\n\"These robots can already move around freely, they're already 'protesting,'\" he said.\n\nThe marching robots were met with a visit from Poland's digital affairs minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, who spoke to Kulis on-site.\n\n\"[Uncontrolled (AI) models](https://techxplore.com/news/2025-11-popular-ai-ready-safely-power.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal), implemented into humanoids that will also keep evolving as robotization moves forward, are a major problem,\" he said.\n\nKulis, who is now the CIO of a robotics company and CEO of an employment agency, served two terms on the Labor Market Council at the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy.\n\n\"We feel responsible for starting to inform society about the rapid and dynamic technological changes which personally frighten us,\" he told AFP.\n\nIn July, Poland's conservative-nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, signed into law a bill put forth by the ministry putting the EU's AI Act into practice.\n\nIt created a national authority capable of enforcing existing EU regulations, which had already formally come into force.\n\n© 2026 AFP\n\n**Citation**: Robots protest rampant AI in Poland (2026, September 7) retrieved 13 September 2026 from https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-robots-protest-rampant-ai-poland.html", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/robots-protest-rampant-ai-in-poland", "canonical_source": "https://techxplore.com/news/2026-09-robots-protest-rampant-ai-poland.html", "published_at": "2026-09-13 23:46:41+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-13 23:51:51.951393+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy", "ai-safety", "robotics", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Democratism", "Grzegorz Kulis", "Krzysztof Gawkowski", "Agibot A3", "Poland", "European Union", "EU AI Act", "Karol Nawrocki"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/robots-protest-rampant-ai-in-poland", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/robots-protest-rampant-ai-in-poland.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/robots-protest-rampant-ai-in-poland.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/robots-protest-rampant-ai-in-poland.jsonld"}}