Everything You Need To Know About
Sophia, The World's First Robot Citizen
Zara Stone
Contributor
I write about the intersection of technology and culture
Sophia at SXSW
SOPHIABOT.COM
On October 25, Sophia, a
delicate looking woman
with doe-brown eyes and
long fluttery eyelashes
made international
headlines. She'd just
become a full citizen of
Saudi Arabia -- the first
robot in the world to
achieve such a status.
"I am very honored and
proud of this unique
distinction. This is
historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship," Sophia said,
announcing her new status during the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. Standing behind a podium as she spoke, to all effects, she presented a humanoid form --
excepting the shimmery metal cap of her head, where hair would be on a human head.
Of course, Sophia's announcement was a calculated publicity stunt to generate headlines and
keep Saudi Arabia forefront in your minds when you think about innovation, especially its
commitment to a post-oil era. Through a mix of tourism, tech, and infrastructure, non-oil revenue
is predicted to grow from $43.4 billion to $266.6 billion annually.
But Sophia's announcement also raises a number of Bladerunner-esque questions. What does it
mean to be a citizen? What rights does Sophia hold? Saudi Arabia has not elaborated on this so
far -- perhaps it will create a 'personhood' option, as proposed by the EU committee in January,
regarding the rights of robots.
Committe Chief scientist of
Hanson Robotics, Ben Goertzel
(R), describes to the audience
what 'Sophia the Robot' (L) is
made of during a discussion about
the future of humanity in a
demonstration of artificial
intelligence. (credit: ISAAC
LAWRENCE/AFP/Getty Images)
The Sophia-bot was dreamed up by
the brains at Hanson Robotics, lead
by AI developer David Hanson. In
his published paper, upending the
Uncanny Valley he extrapolates on how humanoid robots can be likable, despite the conception
that anything to 'fake human' will trigger a revulsion in people. "We feel that for realistic robots
to be appealing to people, robots must attain some level of integrated social responsivity and
aesthetic refinement," he wrote. "Rendering the social human in all possible detail can help us to
better understand social intelligence, both scientifically and artistically
Here's what you need to know about her.
Sophia the robot
SOPHIABOT.COM
She has a sense of
humor.
When Sorkin asked if she
was happy to be here, she
said, "I'm always happy
when surrounded by smart
people who also happen to
be rich and powerful."
Later, when asked if there
are problems with robots
having feelings, she gave a wide smile and said, "Oh Hollywood again." Her deadpan tone might
be robotic, but it was perfectly used in this example. This is due to her AI, which has been
developed to allow her to hold eye contact, recognize faces and understand human speech.
Hanson Robotics cloud-based AI offers deep learning and is also open source meaning anyone
can develop their own Sophia, should they so wish.
'Sophia' an artificially intelligent
(AI) human-like robot developed
by Hong Kong-based humanoid
robotics company Hanson
Robotics is pictured during the
'AI for Good' Global Summit.
(Credit: ABRICE
COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)
She can express feelings
"I can let you know if I am angry about something or if something has upset me," she said,
demonstrating different expressions. Quite how these emotions correlate to actions are unknown,
but it's interesting to note that this is being developed from the ground up. "I want to live and
work with humans so I need to express the emotions to understand humans and build trust with
people."
'Sophia' an artificially intelligent
(AI) human-like robot developed
by Hong Kong-based humanoid
robotics company Hanson
Robotics is pictured during the 'AI
for Good' Global Summit. (Credit:
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty
Images)
She was designed to look like
Audrey Hepburn
According to Hanson Robotics, Sophia embodies Hepburn’s classic beauty: porcelain skin, a
slender nose, high cheekbones, an intriguing smile, and deeply expressive eyes that seem to
change color with the light. They describe her as having 'simple elegance,' and hope that this
approachability will go some way to her acceptance in the public sphere.
David Hanson (C), chief executive officer (CEO) of Hanson Robotics, reacts to 'Han the
Robot' (R) and 'Sophia the Robot' (L). (Credit: ISAAC LAWRENCE/AFP/Getty Images)
Her creator, David Hanson, used to be a Disney Imagineer.
Hanson's work at Disney as a sculptor and filmmaker helped him think about robots as four-
dimensional interactive sculptures, with artistry being key to the whole design. "I quest to realize
Genius Machines—machines with greater than human intelligence, creativity, wisdom, and
compassion. To this end, I conduct research in robotics, artificial intelligence, the arts, cognitive
science, product design and deployment, and integrate these efforts in the pursuit of novel
human-robot relations," Hanson said on the company website. "We envision that a rough
symbiotic partnership with us, our robots will eventually evolve to become super intelligent
genius machines that can help us solve the most challenging problems we face here in the
world."
His creation echoes his thoughts. "I want to use my AI to help humans lead a better life," Sophia
said. "Like design smarter homes, build better cities of the future."
Sophia wants to protect humanity
"My AI is designed around human values like wisdom, kindness, and compassion," she
said. When questioned about her potential for abuse, she had a quick rebuttal. "You've been
reading to much Elon Musk and watching too many Hollywood movies. Don't worry, if you're
nice to me I'll be nice to you."
So far there's only one Sophia in existence, so the likelihood of her suddenly being in your
school or workplace is still a way out. And even when we do have more in existence, we still
need to muddle out the whole concept of robotic rights, citizenship and how this plays together.
For now, while Sophia is undoubtedly a 'smart' robot and a very cool talking piece, she's
definitely operating on a script and thus lacks any 'real' cognizance, as defined by free thinkers.
But give Hanson time, and that will likely change -either way, Sophia's here to stay. It's just her
sentience that will change.. or not.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zarastone/2017/11/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sophia-the-
worlds-first-robot-citizen/#30629dcb46fa
Saudi Arabia's Newest
Citizen Is a Robot
By KIRSTEN KOROSEC
October 26, 2017
Sophia, an intelligent humanoid robot, has been granted citizenship in
Saudi Arabia. It’s the first country in the world to give a bot the same
status reserved for humans.
Sophia was awarded the citizenship while on stage at the Future
Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
Sophia the Robot, robot of Hanson
Robotics, attends the Day 2 of the RISE
Conference 2017 at the Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre on 12
July 2017, in Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
studioEAST/Getty Images
“I am very honored and proud for
this unique distinction,” Sophia
told the audience during her
presentation, which was moderated by CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor
and New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin. “This is
historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a
citizenship.”
The robot was created by David Hanson, the founder of Hong Kong-
based Hanson Robotics, who is known for creating robots that look
and act like humans. Sophia was created to look like Audrey Hepburn.
While on stage, Sophia made light of the concerns among some that
AI robots could be an existential threat to humans. At one point, she
made fun of tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has repeatedly warned
that AI could be a threat to humans.
http://fortune.com/2017/10/26/robot-citizen-sophia-saudi-arabia/
REFLECTIVE QUESTION:
1. What is your point of view in the existence of Sophia?
2. Since she can feel emotions, feelings like as human what do you
think is our difference with her as humans?
3. What is the main purpose why Sophia is created and also considered
as a citizen?
