Serious question, but has anyone at BMW seen the Terminator movies? Or caught Netflix's Love, Death, and Robots? Because it really seems that the Bavarian company has pushed itself into those worlds without actually worrying about the potential consequences that Hollywood and futurists have been warning us about for the better part of the last half-century.
First, BMW was caught using AI-generated images within its press releases. And when called out on that it didn't mention this or explicitly state they were AI-generated, the company's response was something along the lines of "We didn't have time to photograph the motorcycles for real, so we used AI." Rightfully so, they caught smoke for the answer, and we flat-out refused to publish the AI photos.
They later used AI-generated photos again for subsequent releases, this time marking them as such, and were once again told to pound sand by the vast majority of writers, creators, photographers, and much of the internet.
Unfortunately, BMW's executives still seem to be pushing for the removal of the human element in its production processes, as it just showed off how it's using a humanoid robot that'll likely end up helping with motorcycle production, and...yeah, this ain't a good look for a motorcycle manufacturer I really love.
According to the BMW press release, "The BMW Group is consistently advancing the digitalisation and use of artificial intelligence in production. A key element in this effort is 'Physical AI', which combines digital artificial intelligence (AI) with real machines and robots. This enables intelligent systems such as humanoid robots to be integrated into real-world production processes."
The company added, "For the first time, the BMW Group is now bringing Physical AI to Europe and launching a pilot project with humanoid robots at the Leipzig plant. The project aims to integrate humanoid robotics into existing series production of cars and to explore further applications in the production of batteries and components."
The Robot is called "AEON" and was built by the company Hexagon. I don't know if Hexagon meant for its name to conjure the anime Aeon Flux, a show about a near-future dystopia with mutants, cyborgs, and robots running amok, but I can't say they didn't. God, this feels as on the nose as Palantir or Anduril and those oligarch tech bros. But, for the time being, the idea behind the project is to reduce the risk of safety-critical needs that could be harmful to humans. At least that's what BMW says.
I'm less sure about it, given its penchant lately for reducing the "need" for human creativity in the photography department.
Aeon's first tests are scheduled to occur during the spring, with a full pilot program implementation marked for later this summer. How this will affect BMW's manufacturing process is still unclear, as humanoid robots are still wildly new technologies, and the AI that powers them routinely fails at even basic tasks. We also have to wonder what safeguards BMW and Hexagon will put into place so Aeon doesn't steal a M1000RR and head for the Nurburgring to cause chaos...
