Conspiracy theories apart, Sophie seems to be an extremely creepy robot when it said it will ‘destroy humans’
“Sophia,” an advanced, lifelike robot told its creator that it will “destroy humans” at the South by Southwest (SXSW) technology show. The robot which was created by Hanson Robotics, a firm that was founded and is run by David Hanson, made the shocking revelation on the show.
In a question and answer session with the robot, Hanson asks the robot, “Do you want to destroy humans? Please say no.” Sophia as he is named by his creator, however, makes her intentions clear and unblinkingly answers, “OK. I will destroy humans.”
Sophia is made solely of patented silicon. She has been equipped with cameras in her eyes and has more than 62 facial expressions, can make eye contact and can recognize individuals. She also has Google Chrome’s voice recognition technology and other necessary tools for her to process speech. This allows her to make contact with others, and she has been designed to get smarter and smarter over time. NBC’s report indicates that IBM and Intel are also going to put their programs and technologies into the robot.
According to the robotic firm, Sophia is a robot that will be used in theme parks and care facilities helping and assisting people with customer service and health treatment. Sophia, who has been involved in many interviews before her murderous claim, also listed some of her ambitions earlier. On top of saying, talking to people is her primary function, she hopes to live just like an ordinary person, and her dreams include doing normal things such as going to school, studying, making art, being an entrepreneur and also having her own home and family.
Hanson believes that the future of Artificial Intelligence is evolving rapidly but contrary to what people think Hanson thinks that it will change to a point where humans and AI will truly be friends. Not in ways that dehumanize us but rather dehumanize us, thereby decreasing the trend of distance between people and instead connects people together as much as with robots. He believes that in 20 years’ time, we will be walking with humanoid robots amongst us, helping and teaching us.
Dr. Ian Pearson, a futurologist, said that the idea of Artificial Intelligence being hostile is familiar, and the phenomenon is dubbed the “Terminator Scenario”. He goes on to say that there is no reason what so ever to assume that super machine would be hostile to us but does not mean it’s incapable of doing so.
Recent psychometric studies conducted at the University of Illinois showed that the most advanced robots in existence at the moment could only be the same as the intelligence of a four-year-old child.