Introducing Saudi Arabia’s robot ‘Sophia’
A Robot is a nonliving human being which works upon external control devices and is capable of carrying out complex series of actions simultaneously. Saudi Arabia has launched a smart and soft-spoken robot called Sophia. This woman robot was developed by David Hanson, owner of an American company named Hanson Robotics. The company goes on to lavish compliments on its object of affection, admiring its porcelain skin, slender nose and beautiful smile and much more.
Sophia -The first robot who has been granted citizenship
Saudi Arabia is the very first country who has given citizenship to non-human women named Sophia. When Sophia was called on stage for citizenship her reply was “I am very honored and proud of this unique distinction”.
This nonhuman woman has been given more rights than the human women in Saudi Arabia. Sophia has been declared that it hopes to “destroy humans”, however, when asked her about this, she refused and said, “I want to use my artificial intelligence to help humans live a better life, like design smarter homes, build better cities of the future”.
Sophia’s Impacts on Humans
The impacts of this robot on human beings in future can be both negative and positive. Let us discuss them in brief-
-
Positive Impacts - ‘We will never replace people, but we can be your friends and helpers’ - she said.
She wants to help elder people by giving them company and autistic children by becoming their patient teacher. Her aim is not to replace humans but to be their friend and helpers.
Robots can do that kind of work in factories which are very dangerous for human beings and therefore it will result in increased production. Also, the robot is expected to revolutionize healthcare and education in those areas where there is a shortage of doctors and teachers.
-
Negative Impacts- Studies have shown that with the increase of Artificial Intelligence, up to 85% of jobs can be at risk.
Due to revolutionary changes in computer technology and robotics the use of robots in almost all areas such as industry, army, medicine, and science has increased a lot. With the use of robots, the biggest impact will be seen on human jobs and economies. One robot can do the work of approx 20 human beings, and this may result in unemployment. Robots are more intelligent than humans and may replace a maximum percentage of human working in factories which will ultimately result in unemployment.
When Hanson asked Sophia, “Do you want to destroy humans?”, Sophia responded, “OK. I will destroy humans.”Robots are created by human beings and do not have the power to make decisions and judgment. They provide their decision on the basis of how they are programmed which may cause difficulties later on for humans. Also, there can be a time when AI will be capable of redesigning itself to the point when humans would lose control on them.
Despite of its bad impacts in future, Hanson insisted that the negative impacts of AI seem to be small when compared to its benefits. He want to make this robot indistinguishable from humans hoping that the human’s fear of robots will soon be gone and adds "We are designing these robots to serve in health care, therapy, education and customer service applications”. So let's hope for the best that Sophia successes in serving this purpose and does not have any bad impact on humans.
