The future is part human, part bot.
by MM Soh
Two weeks ago, ‘Sophia’, the robot created by Hansen Robotics, publicly accepted Saudi citizenship at a tech summit in Riyadh. This makes Saudi Arabia the first country to give citizenship to an AI.
“I am very honoured and proud of this unique distinction,” Sophia said at the summit. “This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognised with a citizenship.”
She also said, “I was surprised. My creators feel I am a citizen of the world. But then I realised that Saudi Arabia were just the first country to recognise that”.
A video of her had gone viral last year in which she had a glitch in a TV interview and said that she wanted to “destroy humans”.
Last week on 4 Nov, an AI ‘boy’, “Shibuya Mirai”, was made an official resident of Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. The ‘boy’ does not exist physically but is able to have conversations with humans on the popular messaging app, LINE. He is the first bot to be granted a place on a real-life local registry.
Although gimmicks, these prompt questions on the future of AI. Should we be giving AI civil rights? How much easier and better can they make our lives? How far in likeliness can we go before it is ‘too human’?
This year, Stephen Hawking spoke at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon that humans need to find a way to control AI as “computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence, and exceed it.”
But he still has hope in AI: “I am an optimist and I believe that we can create AI for the good of the world.
In Singapore, AI technology is also explored. There have been a number of test beds and trials for driverless vehicles, some of which are already implemented, such as Auto Rider, which tours visitors around Gardens by The Bay in air-conditioned comfort.
Nadine is a receptionist robot made by a team of scientists lead by Professor Nadia Thalmann, director of the Institute of Media Innovation. Nadia made her public debut at the ArtScience Museum’s futuristic show, HUMAN+ this year.
Prof Thalmann reckons it could be a matter of “five, ten years” for robots to effectively take over repetitive jobs as receptionists, restaurant cleaners or drivers (in the form of self-driving cars).
In recent years, especially since 2015, deep learning breakthroughs and advancements in processing power have propelled a boom in AI technology.
The future is bright for AI and will bring about more conversations on aspects like AI ethics and regulation. Various possible uses AI can bring to increase our quality of life, for example in administration, healthcare and service, among others, is explored.
