WARSAW, Poland — Around 30 robots marched through Warsaw on Monday, waving flags, broadcasting slogans and staging a demonstration outside Poland’s digital affairs ministry to call for stronger regulation of artificial intelligence and robotisation.
The unusual protest was organised by Democratism, an initiative that says it aims to stimulate debate about the impact of artificial intelligence and robotisation on the labour market.
Among the participants was Agibot A3, an AI-powered humanoid robot that told AFP the demonstration was intended to show that the technology was no longer a distant prospect but an existing reality.
“The robots present here are meant to show that this technology is already a reality,” Agibot A3 told AFP.
The robots included bipedal humanoids as well as dog-like quadrupeds. Loudspeakers played slogans including “Defend workplaces”, “Time for rules” and “Don’t wait, regulate” as the machines moved through the demonstration.
Protest highlights threat to jobs
Organiser Grzegorz Kulis said the demonstration was designed to draw attention to the potential impact of increasingly capable robots and AI systems on employment.
“We particularly want to address the issue of the potential replacement of people both by humanoid robots and by artificial intelligence in cognitive work,” Kulis told AFP.
He warned that policymakers risk falling behind technological developments if regulations are not introduced quickly.
“If we don’t react now, we may soon have a problem,”
Kulis called for rules and regulations that would protect workers as companies increasingly adopt AI-powered systems and robotics.
The demonstration was also intended to show the public what modern robots can already do, rather than presenting robotisation as a purely theoretical future threat.
“These robots can already move around freely, they’re already ‘protesting’,” Kulis said.
Poland’s digital affairs minister visits protest
The demonstration attracted the attention of several passers-by and also drew a visit from Poland’s Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski.
Gawkowski spoke with Kulis at the protest and acknowledged concerns about the rapid development of AI-powered humanoid machines.
“Uncontrolled (AI) models, implemented into humanoids that will also keep evolving as robotisation moves forward, are a major problem,” he said.
His comments reflected growing concerns among policymakers about the consequences of combining increasingly sophisticated AI systems with physical machines capable of interacting with the real world.
The debate extends beyond manufacturing jobs. Organisers are also concerned about AI systems being used in areas involving cognitive work, potentially affecting professions that have traditionally been less exposed to automation.
Organiser warns of rapid technological change
Kulis brings experience in both employment and technology to the debate.
He currently works as the chief information officer of a robotics company and is also the chief executive of an employment agency. He previously served two terms on the Labour Market Council at Poland’s Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.
He said the protest was partly motivated by a desire to alert the public to the speed at which AI and robotics are developing.
“We feel responsible for starting to inform society about the rapid and dynamic technological changes which personally frighten us,” he told AFP.
The demonstration therefore sought to combine public awareness with pressure for policymakers to establish safeguards before automation begins causing widespread disruption in the labour market.
Poland implements EU AI rules
The protest comes as Poland strengthens its own regulatory framework for artificial intelligence.
In July, Poland’s conservative-nationalist President Karol Nawrocki signed into law legislation proposed by the digital affairs ministry to put the European Union’s AI Act into practice.
The legislation created a national authority with powers to enforce existing EU artificial intelligence regulations.
The EU AI Act had already formally entered into force, but implementation across member states requires national structures capable of supervising compliance and enforcing the rules.
Poland’s move therefore places the country within a broader European effort to regulate AI while allowing the technology to develop.
Debate shifts from AI software to physical robots
The Warsaw demonstration also illustrates how the debate around artificial intelligence is expanding.
Much of the discussion surrounding AI regulation has focused on software, data, automated decision-making and generative AI systems. The appearance of humanoid and quadruped robots at the protest highlighted another dimension: the integration of AI into machines capable of performing physical tasks.
Organisers argue that the combination could create new forms of competition for human workers.
The concern is not necessarily that every job will disappear, but that companies could increasingly use AI and robots to perform tasks currently carried out by people, potentially changing the number and types of workers required.
For policymakers, that creates questions over worker protection, retraining, employment rights and the responsibilities of companies deploying automated systems.
