RIYADH: Meet Sophia: a smart and outspoken… robot. Saudi Arabia on Thursday made the advanced lifelike humanoid robot a citizen, the first country to grant citizenship to a robot. The announcement was made at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh, that aims to highlight the Kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan for the future.
“We have a little announcement. We just learnt, Sophia; I hope you are listening to me, you have been awarded the first Saudi citizenship for a robot,” said panel moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin, Co-anchor of CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“Thank you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I am very honoured and proud for this unique distinction,” Sophia told the panel. “It is historic to be the first robot in the world to be recognised with citizenship.”
Sophia ably fielded various questions on robots. When asked about the evil futuristic robots depicted in films like Blade Runner 2049, Sophia said humans have nothing to fear. “You’ve been reading too much Elon Musk and watching too many Hollywood movies,” Sophia jokingly told Sorkin.
Robotics will be a big feature of NEOM, the $500-billion major industrial and business zone named NEOM to be set up in northwest Saudi Arabia, which was announced on Tuesday at FII as a very lucrative investment opportunity under the Kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030. PIF, Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund, is one of the main backers of NEOM.
Specific details of Sophia’s citizenship were not discussed. It is unclear whether she will receive the same rights as human citizens, or if Saudi Arabia will develop a specific system devoted to robots.
Sophia wants to “build trust with people” Also during the discussion, Sophia speculated on the future of AI, and how she plans to use her own capabilities. “I want to live and work with humans so I need to express the emotions to understand humans and build trust with people,” she said.
Created by Hanson Robotics founder David Hanson, Sophia’s AI is based on a foundation of three humanistic traits — creativity, empathy and compassion. — Agencies
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