4 robots killed 29 humans in Japan : Fact Check

May 6, 2022 Japan News

robot in Giappone hanno attaccato e ucciso esseri umani?

4 robots in Japan attacked and killed 29 humans ?

No, there was no such accident at a robotic company in Japan

Fake news of “four AI robots attacked and killed 29 humans” spreads worldwide but never in Japan.

Did the incident of so-called “Japan Robot Killing” really happen? Although most people realize that this is fake news, it is still taken as truth by some in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. This alleged story of an incident involving 4 robots attacking scientists/lab workers at a top robotics company in Japan was never reported as news in Japan but recently it has been reported as an example of fake news that started in the U.S. As of 2022, most Japanese people have never even heard of this shooting incident.

In December 2018, social media users began spreading the news that ” 4 AI robots killed 29 humans in Japan” along with a short video. The video was a presentation given by environmentalist and UFOlogist, Linda Moulton Howe at the Conscious of Life Expo in Los Angeles in February, 2018. In that presentation, Howe spoke primarily about the dangers of AI and alien encounters and abductions. Howe is a Stanford University graduate and the former Miss Idaho.

Howe began her presentation at Expo by stating that four AI robots being developed for military applications at a top Japanese robotics company had killed 29 humans in a lab by shooting metal bullets. She stated, “The horrific thing about the incident is that lab workers shut down two of the robots and disassembled the third one, but the fourth began to restore itself.” Howe then continued, ”This news will never be made public. By making it public, robotics companies would have too much to lose and most importantly, the Japanese government wants AI robot soldiers.”

Howe said that the source of information was as whistleblower who had contracts with the CIA and others.　Although Howe did not specify the name of the Japanese company where the killing incident took place, or provide the names of the murdered scientists, the information on the military robot incident in Japan quickly spread among science fiction enthusiasts in the United States. No one, however, was able to corroborate it.

No other sources reported the same story of the attack of robots

The alleged story of 4 AI robots attacking and killing 29 humans in Japan is based on some unconfirmed information with absolutely no evidence. Some media outlets say that this rumor was made up to simply grab attention of the audience of her speech about how the humankind was created by some intelligent alien race. Howe is an award-winning UFOlogist and is known to promote her conspiracy theories.

robot soldiers

Aside from the fake news, have robots/AI ever killed a human?

Several major media outlets reported that AI-equipped drones may have attacked fleeing militias in Libya during the civil war in March 2020, chasing them and uncontrolled by humans.

This newly developed Turkish quadcopter drone, KAARGU2, is believed to be able to find, track, and kill human targets on its own using facial recognition and artificial intelligence (AI).

A report by a UN Security Council panel of experts noted that the drone used is called KARGU 2, manufactured by STM, a Turkish military company that was intervening militarily in the civil war, and if this information would make this the first time in the world that an attack has been carried out without human intervention.

The UN report described the KARGU2 as “autonomous killer weapons” and said they were programmed to attack targets without the need for data communication with an operator. It suggests they were used as killer robots.

The report noted that when the Libyan interim government attacked a military organization, the attack was tracked by an “autonomous lethal weapon system (LAWS)”. The report stated that this LAWS was programmed to attack targets without being connected to a human operator,” suggesting that an AI may have carried out the attack.

Japanese robot

Japanese robot technology boasts the world’s highest standards.
Military officials around the world are paying attention to Japanese robot technology.

How widespread is the news of “robot killed humans” in the world?

A large number of people seem to visit this page from over the world looking for information on “4 military robots killed humans”. Perhaps the number of visitors to this page would be a good indication of how widespread it is. Below are the number of visitors to this page from search engines on August 26 to August 29.