In order to mark themselves with the ranks of nations backing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) development, Saudi Arabia bolstered the move by giving a robot – Sophia – a legal citizenship. Sophia is a humanoid robot developed by Hanson Robotics, and she is the first robot to be given a legal citizenship of Saudi Arabia. Sophia looks very human-like, has features that resemble those of Audrey Hepburn, gives expressions that are life-like, and has answers to every question.
According to AsiaOne Magazine, the robot has previously made some formidable remarks like “she will destroy humans” and has received mixed responses from people across the world. While, some have keenly appreciated the Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancement, concurrently, there are people who feel that it could be a possible threat to the human race. And, some have also highlighted the fact that Sophia, the humanoid robot has more civil rights than the women of the entire Middle East region do. Under the Saudi guardianship system, every woman must have a male companion with her in public, usually a close family member, who has authority to act on her behalf. But during the panel discussion “Sophia had no guardian and did not wear an abaya, how come?” jokingly remarked a user on twitter. A reporter also observed that many foreign workers have lesser rights than Sophia, the human robot. Murtaza Hussain posted "This robot has gotten Saudi citizenship before kafala workers who have been living in the country their entire lives". Under Saudi law, foreign workers can't leave the country without the permission of their employers - just one element of the Gulf system of kafala, which limits the rights of foreign workers. The development faced several backlashes from liberals and supporters of the Kafala workers. At the panel of the unveiling event, Sophia was interviewed by the business writer Andrew Ross Sorkin, at a Future Investment Conference in Riyadh. The interview was hosted in front of a live audience, where the audience was riveted by Sophia’s tangible and witty remarks. Upon being asked about the risks involved with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) development in relation to the portrayal of robots in Hollywood, Sophia being her witty self used this opportunity to take a jibe at the CEO of Tesla Inc., Elon Musk. “You’ve been reading too much Elon Musk and watching too many Hollywood movies. Don’t worry, if you’re nice to me, I’ll be nice to you. Treat me as a smart input-output system,” she said. According to AsiaOne News, when Sorkin asked Sophia whether robots are able to be self-aware, she replied saying “Is that a bad thing?” She further talked about her vision for the human race and the future of Artificial Intelligence, how she wishes to help humans live a better life and help build smarter homes and better cities of the future. Having raised many eyebrows and criticism towards the beginning, Sophia managed to appease the audiences during the launch with her forward thinking and polite demeanor.
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