AI wheelchairs’ polite ‘stand-off’ at Changi Airport goes viral: ‘One had to be the bigger chair’
A pair of autonomous wheelchairs were caught in a “stand-off” at Changi Airport Terminal 3, with both emitting recorded messages politely asking the other to give way.
Stand-up comedian Rishi Budhrani posted a video of the encounter on April 16, showing two wheelchairs powered by artificial intelligence (AI) — recently showcased at Changi Airport’s T5 In The Making exhibition in January — stalling at a “crossroads”.
One wheelchair faces forward, while the other is angled towards it.
“I think the robots have a problem,” Budhrani says, as the wheelchairs simultaneously emit a recorded message: “Excuse me, please step aside.”
“But there’s nobody there, bro,” the comedian adds. “There’s a problem with AI when there’s no human intervention.”
Later, one of the wheelchairs turns away, allowing the other to move forward.
“They resolved their differences in the end,” Budhrani writes in the on-screen text.
He adds in the post’s caption: “Even AI will eventually make way for the next big thing.”
Stomp has reached out to Budhrani and Changi Airport Group for comment.
‘One of them had to be the bigger chair’
The video quickly went viral, garnering over 340,000 views and 11,200 shares on Instagram.
Changi Airport Group responded in the comments, saying that the wheelchairs “just needed a little time to sort it out on their own”.
Budhrani replied: “Common sense prevailed and one of them had to be the bigger chair.”
Other netizens were amused, describing the situation as “hilarious”.
One even suggested adding dialect to the voice recording.
“Thank you for stepping in before it broke out into a full-blown conflict,” another commenter joked.
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