Footage from Iran’s 2023 Kish Inox Tech Expo has gone viral after it was discovered that the beings presented as “advanced technology humanoid robots” were actually just people in costumes and make-up.
While presented to attendees as advanced robots, visitors quickly realized that the figures were simply people in costume. The acne scars, regular breathing, and natural blinking gave away their less-than-mechanic nature, according to Turkish site Haberler.
Footage circulated online of the two “robots,” one man and one woman. They wore white outfits, glasses, and a series of zeros and ones plastered to their clothing to reference code.
Commenting on the now-viral incident, Iranian channels have claimed that they never intended to present the people as robots, and it was part of a performance at the expo.
Hossein Afshin, a senior official in Iran for Science and Technology and Knowledge-based economy, told officials at the sidelines of a government meeting that the performance was a company decision, according to the Iranian site Zoomit.
"I only know that one of the companies did this for its own advertising. Consequently, it has no objection, and it must definitely accept its responsibility," he said. "This was not something that the policymakers of the Innotex Kish exhibition did, or it was not the exhibition's ideas to use humans as robots."
The performers described themselves as “a collection of data that work together in a shared data code,” according to a translation provided by Roya News. They claimed they were also capable of tasks associated with Artificial Intelligence.
This year's expo. was held under the slogan "Discovering the future, with the support of governmental institutions and the participation of the private sector," according to BBC Persian.
The expo claimed on its website that the opening was attended by high-ranking Iranian officials, investors, and business delegations from around the world.