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Humanoid robots race past humans to set Beijing half-marathon record

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Robot sprints to victory in China race, beating human world record

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Beijing traffic police robot makes a debut at humanoid robot half-marathon run

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Humanoid robot breaks human half-marathon record; Drastic improvement reflects systemic advances in Chinas robot technologies: expert

Elon Musk

Rishi Sunak

Kamala Harris

Bill Gates

Andrew Ng

Yoshua Bengio

Fei-Fei Li

Demis Hassabis

Melanie Mitchell

Sam Altman

Dario Amodei

Geoffrey Hinton

Yann LeCun

Gary Marcus

Max Tegmark

Connor Leahy

Eliezer Yudkowsky

Jaan Tallinn

Marc Andreessen

Eric Schmidt

Norbert Wiener

Arthur Clarke

Irving John Good

Claude Shannon

Hans Moravec

John Smart

There's a "wall of fear-mongering and doomerism" in the AI world right now.

"Worrying about AI today is like worrying about overpopulation on Mars."

Concerns that AI could pose a threat to humanity is "preposterously ridiculous."

Claiming AI poses an existential threat is "such an extreme" and risks "wip[ing] out some of its potential benefits."

"I'm more concerned about... the risks that are here and now [than the existential threat of AI]."

Current AI is "not anywhere close" to posing an existential threat but it could in the future.

AI is the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.

AGI's worst-case scenario would be "lights-out for all of us."

Powerful AI systems "taking control" pose an "existential threat."

AI has a "10 to 25 per cent" chance of destroying humanity.

"The most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI... is that literally everyone on Earth will die."

Does AI Pose an Existential Threat to Humanity?

Chuck Schumer

Brad Smith

Nestor Maslej

Ruth Porat

Ylli Bajraktari

Bruegel

National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence

Brandon J. Weichert

Clement Delangue

Zhou Hongyi

Joseph Tsai

Huey-Meei Chang

Craig S. Smith

Jeffrey Ding

Ray Perrault

Susana Martinez

Niall Ferguson

Larry Elliot

Marcel Munch

Pavel Durov

John Rush

"I think, today, [China is] probably two years behind the top [AI] models [from the US]."

"Where China sits [in AI], I think, is very far behind the US."

"The United States is in a strong position to win the essential [AI] race with China."

"China will dominate AI."

"The combination with China's self-made chips + AI infrastructure stack will put China ahead of the US."

China would "undoubtedly come out on top [in the US-China AI race]."

"[I]t seems like the United States is really far ahead [when it comes to generative AI]."

"China will lead the world in AI development."

In 2025, "China will start to lead the AI race (as a consequence of leading the open-source AI race)."

Will China Surpass the US in AI?

A humanoid robot half-marathon was held April 19, 2026, in Beijing's Yizhuang district, featuring more than 100 robot teams — up from around 20 in the inaugural 2025 edition — alongside roughly 12,000 human runners on parallel tracks.

A humanoid robot half-marathon was held April 19, 2026, in Beijing's Yizhuang district, featuring more than 100 robot teams — up from around 20 in the inaugural 2025 edition — alongside roughly 12,000 human runners on parallel tracks.

The winning robot, named "Flash" and developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor, completed the 21-kilometer course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, surpassing the men's half-marathon world record of 57:20 set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March 2026.

The winning robot, named "Flash" and developed by Chinese smartphone maker Honor, completed the 21-kilometer course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, surpassing the men's half-marathon world record of 57:20 set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March 2026.

Honor teams swept all three podium positions, with finishing times of 50:26, 50:56 and 53:01 — all under the world record. All three robots operated via autonomous navigation rather than remote control.

Honor teams swept all three podium positions, with finishing times of 50:26, 50:56 and 53:01 — all under the world record. All three robots operated via autonomous navigation rather than remote control.

About 40 percent of competing robots navigated the course autonomously using onboard sensors and AI systems. Remotely controlled robots had their times multiplied by a coefficient of 1.2, and penalties applied for battery swaps during the race.

About 40 percent of competing robots navigated the course autonomously using onboard sensors and AI systems. Remotely controlled robots had their times multiplied by a coefficient of 1.2, and penalties applied for battery swaps during the race.

Honor engineer Du Xiaodi said the winning robot was developed over one year, with legs measuring 90 to 95 centimeters to replicate elite runners' stride efficiency, and liquid cooling technology adapted from smartphone manufacturing.

Honor engineer Du Xiaodi said the winning robot was developed over one year, with legs measuring 90 to 95 centimeters to replicate elite runners' stride efficiency, and liquid cooling technology adapted from smartphone manufacturing.

A Beijing traffic police robot made its first official appearance at the event, directing runners via hand signals and voice prompts. A full-process test run was conducted from the night of April 11 into the early hours of April 12, 2026.

A Beijing traffic police robot made its first official appearance at the event, directing runners via hand signals and voice prompts. A full-process test run was conducted from the night of April 11 into the early hours of April 12, 2026.

Robot Beats Human Half-Marathon Record in Beijing

Robot Beats Human Half-Marathon Record in Beijing

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Robot Beats Human Half-Marathon Record in Beijing

Robot Beats Human Half-Marathon Record in Beijing

The Controversies

Andreessen

Ng

LeCun

Mitchell

Li

Bengio

Musk

Altman

Hinton

Amodei

Yudkowsky

Tsai

Ding

Smith

Rush

Munch

Hongyi

Maslej

Martinez

Delangue

Go Deeper

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