If your real-life dog isn't as obedient as you'd like, a Chinese firm may have a perfect robotic replacement for you. Called Go2, the'intelligent quadruped robot' can dance, do a handstand while wiggling its legs in the air and even rush to greet its owner – just like a real pooch. It can also climb the stairs, play fetch, emit music from a built-in speaker and even take photos on command, which are sent straight to the owner's smartphone. A new promo clip shows the bot showing off its tricks, including jumping between rocks and even working its way around a hedge maze. Go2 is similar to the Spot robot dog from rival Boston Dynamics, although it's been designed for consumers at a hefty price tag of $1,600 (£1,240).

If you're a construction worker, Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot could soon be coming for your job. New footage from the Massachusetts firm shows Atlas, its scary six-foot-tall bipedal humanoid bot, helping out with construction tasks. Atlas was already able to run and jump, but the footage shows it can now also grip objects, making it an ideal companion on the building site. In the new clip Atlas can be seen laying wood over scaffolding, holding and carrying a tool bag and performing an extravagant mid-air flip. Atlas the most human-like robot in Boston Dynamic's line-up, first unveiled to the public in July 2013.

The team behind GPT's new Chatbot has clearly done what they can to stop it spreading disinformation, but it is also quite clear at a level where we can say that that any nefarious commercial or governmental organization who wanted to weaponize these technologies for disinformation absolutely could. The first thing that GPT Chat demonstrates is a real confidence it its error, which is what we should expect from a machine. This is perfect troll behaviour. Not simply getting something wrong, but then (incorrectly) linking some elements to reinforce its point. Now with GPT Chat this is accidental, but it shows how you could easily bias the training data to support a proscribed position.

Several robotics companies, including Boston Dynamics, are pledging not to support the weaponization of their products and are calling for others in the industry to do the same, according to a letter shared first with Axios. Why it matters: Robots, like drones before them, have a wide range of peaceful and even life-saving uses, but can be turned into war-fighting machines, too. Details: The open letter highlights the erosion of consumer trust in robots as among the reasons not to allow them to be used as weapons. What they're saying: Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said, in an e-mailed statement: "We are concerned about recent increases in makeshift efforts by individuals attempting to weaponize commercially available robots... For this technology to be broadly accepted throughout society, the public needs to know they can trust it. And that means we need policy that prohibits bad actors from misusing it."

You might suppose Hollywood is good at predicting the future. Indeed, Robert Wallace, head of the CIA's Office of Technical Service and the US equivalent of MI6's fictional Q, has recounted how Russian spies would watch the latest Bond movie to see what technologies might be coming their way. Hollywood's continuing obsession with killer robots might therefore be of significant concern. The newest such movie is Apple TV's forthcoming sex robot courtroom drama Dolly. I never thought I'd write the phrase "sex robot courtroom drama", but there you go.

Boston Dynamics, the DARPA-backed robotics company known for uncomfortable videos where nearly 200-pound humanoid robots perform backflips, uncomfortable dances, and various forms of horrifyingly aggressive parkour, says it isn't interested in weaponizing its robots. In an open letter this week, Boston Dynamics Dynamics joined five other robotics makers in a pledge not to weaponize their advanced-mobility, general-purpose robots, or the software that makes them tick. The companies said they would carefully review their customers' intended application for the bots "when possible" and pledged to explore features that could somehow mitigate risks. Stating the obvious, the companies wrote that weaponization of advanced robotics "raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues," and could harm public trust in the technology. The robot makers went on to encourage policymakers to explore ways to promote the safe use of robots and encouraged other researchers and developers to join the pledge. "We are convinced that the benefits for humanity of these technologies strongly outweigh the risk of misuse, and we are excited about a bright future in which humans and robots work side by side to tackle some of the world's challenges," the companies wrote.

That was the crux of the message a coalition of robotics companies including the famed Boston Dynamics put out in an open letter with the eye-catching subject line "General Purpose Robots Should Not Be Weaponized." The Waltham-headquartered Boston Dynamics is attempting to, well, terminate the idea that its internet-celebrity robot "dogs" and other automatons will be armed to the teeth, and it, alongside other major robotics companies, is encouraging others to do the same. "We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public, and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues," the companies wrote in the joint letter posted online on Thursday. "Weaponized applications of these newly-capable robots will also harm public trust in the technology in ways that damage the tremendous benefits they will bring to society. For these reasons, we do not support the weaponization of our advanced-mobility general-purpose robots."

The days of Spot being leveraged as a weapons platform and training alongside special forces operators are already coming to an end; Atlas as a back-flipping soldier of fortune will never come to pass. Their maker, Boston Dynamics, along with five other industry leaders announced on Thursday that they will not pursue, or allow, the weaponization of their robots, according to a non-binding, open letter they all signed. Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree Robotics all joined Boston Dynamics in the agreement. "We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public, and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues," the group wrote. "Weaponized applications of these newly-capable robots will also harm public trust in the technology in ways that damage the tremendous benefits they will bring to society."

People take pictures and videos of the Boston Dynamics robot Spot during an event in Lisbon in 2019. People take pictures and videos of the Boston Dynamics robot Spot during an event in Lisbon in 2019. Boston Dynamics and five other robotics companies have signed an open letter saying what many of us were already nervously hoping for anyway: Let's not weaponize general-purpose robots. The six leading tech firms -- including Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree -- say advanced robots could result in huge benefits in our work and home lives but that they may also be used for nefarious purposes. "Untrustworthy people could use them to invade civil rights or to threaten, harm, or intimidate others," the companies said.

Robotics company Boston Dynamics is pledging not to support the weaponization of its products and calling for its competitors to do the same. In a new letter, the firm said recent efforts to weaponize their robots - such as a Russian inventor who strapped a submachine gun to a Unitree robot and filmed it shooting targets - had added to the urgency of their declaration. 'We pledge that we will not weaponize our advanced-mobility general-purpose robots or the software we develop that enables advanced robotics and we will not support others to do so,' the letter, which was signed by six other companies, including Unitree, states. The Massachusetts-based tech company has frequently seen videos of its robot dogs Spot or its humanoid robot Atlas go viral for performing various stunts or athletic tasks in public. Anyone who has watched the Black Mirror episode'Metalhead' that features a robotic dog or seen the film Angel Has Fallen, which features an attempted assassination of the president by autonomous, AI-powered drones, is aware of the potential risks these new technologies pose.