'A fork in the road': laundry-sorting robot spurs AI hopes and fears at Europe's biggest tech event

This year's Web Summit, in Lisbon, was all about artificial intelligence – and a robot sorting laundry. Digit, a humanoid built by the US firm Agility Robotics, demonstrated how far AI has come in a few years by responding to voice commands – filtered through Google's Gemini AI model – to sift through a pile of coloured T-shirts and place them in a basket. It wasn't a seamless demonstration but the enthusiastic response, nearly two years on from the launch of ChatGPT, reflected the excitement about all things AI that pervaded Europe's biggest annual tech conference. Talk of a bust in the AI boom could not be heard over the shouts of encouragement for Digit as it pondered different shades of garment. Nonetheless, the voices of caution were there, discussing familiar themes such as safety, jobs and the climate, as AI comes to influence a huge range of industries.