History has been made on Thursday, when the kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to unveil to the world the first robot citizen, Sophia.
The robot which was designed with a human face and claimed to be the most intelligent robot was given a chance to address people at the Future Investment Initiative which took place in the Kingdom, championing the idea of exploring the evolving role of sovereign wealth in driving the next wave of business, innovation, technology and investment.
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Following an interview with the robot on stage, it was then announced that the robot has been awarded what is to be known as the first Saudi citizenship for a robot. Immediately, the robot thanked the King and said how honored she was to be so awarded.
Here are five things to know about the first robot citizen
- The creation of the robot
Sophia was created by a Hong Kong-based AI robotics company, Hanston Robotics. The robot claimed during a visit to the UN that it is a year and a half old and can have a full conversation, make thousands of facial expressions, and understand speech and meaning behind words.
The bot has also claimed that she is completely confident and very smart as she goes about preaching her gospel of AI and robotics.
Created by Dr. David Hanson, Sophia “has also become a media darling, having given numerous interviews to multiple media outlets, sang in a concert, and even graced the cover of one of the top fashion magazines.”
2. Places She Has Been To
It is not only to the General Assembly or even the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia alone that the Bot has visited. It has also visited many other parts of the world and shows. It has also visited other places including the UK and the US.
Sophia has appeared on many TV shows as well, including Tonight Showbotics with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning Britain, Modern Living with Kathy Ireland, and many others.
3. People like Elon Musk are still scared
Despite the fact that this first robot citizen has charmed the world with sweetness, people like Elon Musk are still not buying it. They believe that the robot and others could be very dangerous to humans.
When told that everyone was trying to believe that she was going to have good values as she claimed and be empathetic but everyone was trying to prevent a dangerous future, the robot simply said: “you’ve been reading too much Elon Musk and watching too many Hollywood movies. Don’t worry, if you are nice to me, I will be nice to you.”
Just feed it The Godfather movies as input. What’s the worst that could happen? https://t.co/WX4Kx45csv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2017
Musk replied via a tweet.
4. This is her goal
According to Sophia, she wants to “use my artificial intelligence to help humans live a better life, like design smarter homes, build better cities of the future. I will do my best to make the world a better place.”
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5. The Robot Has Business Potentials
At the end of the speech at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sophia invited anyone interested in giving her investment chip. More so, she has been able to meet face-to-face with key decision makers across industries including banking, insurance, auto manufacturing, property development, media, and entertainment.
