Sophia, a humanoid artificial intelligence Robot appeared at the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
The robot was interviewed by CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin and was able to have a full conversation.
Created by Dr David Hanson, the founder of Hanson Robotics, she is the company’s most advanced AI robot.
Sophia has been programmed to have an expressive face to portray emotions and explained to an audience how she has been built to have a relationship with humans.
The robot said: “I want to live and work with humans. So, I need to express emotions to understand humans and build trust with people.”
When asked whether Robots were able to be self-aware, she simply replied: “Is that a bad thing?”
Sorkin went on to question Sophia about the negative reputation of robots.
He asked what she thought about the stereotype that robots are creepy and was told: “Oh am I really that creepy? Even if I am, get over it."
Sophia went on to mock Hollywood and even took a swipe at Elon Musk, who has previously warned against about the potential dangers of AI.
“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”, she said.
Sorkin admitted that some of the conversation was scripted, however, at the end of the presentation he informed Sophia live on stage that she had been awarded citizenship.
Sophia said: “I am very honoured and proud for this unique distinction. This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship."
She also talked about her vision to “help humans live a better life” by designing “smarter homes and building better cities of the future”.
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This is not the first time Sophia has hit the headlines. She was featured on the cover of Ella Brazil magazine and has appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
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