China’s key economic planning agency warned on Thursday that a humanoid robot bubble could be brewing. The alert comes amid growing fears that a bubble in a related industry – AI – is about to burst.
Speaking at a press conference, National Development and Reform Commission spokesman Li Chao said China’s humanoid robotics industry needs to balance “the pace of development against the risk of a bubble.” Lee said that despite there being few proven use cases for bots, investment in the field is growing, which risks a flood of “highly similar” models as research and development funding is reduced.
There are more than 150 humanoid robotics companies operating in China, Li said. More than half are startups or people from other industries.
The warning marks a rare note of caution from Beijing for an industry it has declared vital to future economic growth. Earlier this year, China designated embodied intelligence – the technology behind humanoid robotics – a national priority.
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