China Is Building Robot Training Factories—And It’s Altering the Future of AI
Inside the Wuhan Facilities Where Humanoid Robots Learn to Fold Towels (And What Comes Next) China has identified “embodied intelligence”—AI systems that interact with the physical world—as one of six future industries in its new five-year plan. To get there, Beijing is funding a network of state-sponsored facilities where human workers spend eight-hour shifts teaching robots how to move through physical space. The Financial Times visited one in Wuhan. What they found is both impressive and unsettling. Table of Contents [Inside China’s Robot Training Facilities](#inside-chinas-robot-training-facilities) [The Technology: How Robot Training Works](#the-technology-how-robot-training-works) [Why This Matters Beyond Better Waiters](#why-this-matters-beyond-better-waiters) [The Arms Race