A viral video showing what appears to be a humanoid robot working on a farm has reignited the debate over whether any job is truly safe from AI. The clip, which has crossed more than 5 lakh views on X, comes months after Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu argued that farming is one of the few pursuits that AI would never really take away from humans.

The video was posted by an X user named fidexCode, who identifies himself as a developer. It shows a robot using a hoe to work in a field, alongside a caption that reads: "You should venture into farming, AI is taking tech jobs. Meanwhile AI." The post quickly caught attention as users joked that people looking to escape AI by switching to farming may have to rethink that plan.

The video drew thousands of reactions, with many saying they never expected AI-powered robots to appear capable of handling physical work so soon.

Sridhar Vembu says farming job is safe from AI, but this viral robot tells a different story

"I thought physical AI will take time to do this type of work like farming, plumbering, carpentry but its happen it already, we thought AI will replace the all digital related work but what about in physical field now," one user wrote. Others were more sceptical, arguing that the footage itself may not be real.

"The potatoes look suspicously clean. My potato plants have different leaves and are withered when I harvest them. Also, my robot doesn't have these smooth human moves," another user commented.

Another user summed up the mood online, writing, "We run from tech jobs to farming and AI is already there harvesting potatoes like a pro."

One person even asked Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok whether the clip had been created using generative AI. Grok replied that it was "probably gen AI-crafted," but added that the idea behind the video still points to where robotics is heading. It said AI-powered robots could eventually help address labour shortages, improve agricultural productivity and work alongside humans.

Sridhar Vembu predicted farming jobs are safe from AI

The discussion comes a few months after Sridhar Vembu said that such jobs will remain unaffected from AI, but it turns this might be replaceable too in the near future. Earlier this year, the Zoho founder said that technology could threaten people whose identity is closely tied to the economic value they create. However, he argued that activities driven by passion rather than money would remain untouched.

Among the examples he gave were caring for children, teaching, looking after the elderly, serving as forest rangers, performing daily temple rituals, practising classical music and returning to farming after leaving a well-paying job.

"They will be unaffected by AI. Humanity may organize itself more towards such activity," Vembu wrote.

His comments later sparked a wider debate. Critics argued that even passion-driven work depends on a healthy economy, while Vembu maintained that AI would create abundance by dramatically improving productivity. According to him, the bigger challenge for society would be deciding how that abundance is shared if technology reduces the need for traditional jobs.

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Published By:

Ankita Garg

Published On:

Jul 21, 2026 18:59 IST