Tech

Hackers could program sex robots to kill

A cybersecurity scientist has issued a bizarre warning that sex robots could one day rise up and kill their owners if hackers can get inside their heads.

Last month, tech billionaire Elon Musk claimed that artificial intelligence could take over the planet, and he’s not the only one concerned about the dangers of killer tech.

With sex robots becoming increasingly popular and sophisticated, cybersecurity lecturer Dr. Nick Patterson revealed that the lifelike dolls could end up going all “Terminator” on us.

However, in the case of sex robots, the danger isn’t that the love dolls will end up developing minds of their own, “Westworld”-style.

Instead, the risk is that hackers could breach the realistic robots’ inner defenses and catch their owners with their pants down.

Patterson told Star Online that hacking into many modern-day robots, including sexbots, would be a piece of cake compared to more sophisticated gadgets like cellphones and computers.

The tech expert, from Australia’s Deakin University, said: “Hackers can hack into a robot or a robotic device and have full control of the connections, arms, legs and other attached tools like knives or welding devices.

“Once a robot is hacked, the hacker has full control and can issue instructions to the robot.”

The warning may sound a little far-fetched, but the robots run using an operating system just like a phone or PC.

And as with all devices, if that system is ever connected to the internet, then it becomes possible for hackers to break into it.

The cyber-defense guru added: “The last thing you want is for a hacker to have control over one of these robots.”

“Once hacked, they could absolutely be used to perform physical actions for an advantageous scenario or to cause damage.”