It was a spooky sight, two life-like disembodied robot torsos discussing the pros and cons of humans in front of a nervously laughing audience in Hong Kong.
Artificial intelligence is the dominant theme at this year’s sprawling Rise tech conference and the live robot exchange took the AI debate to another level.
As part of a wide ranging conversation, the creepy pair offered some sinister thoughts when it came to the future of humanity.
Two lifelike disembodied robot torsos have discussed the pros and cons of humans in front of a nervously laughing audience in Hong Kong. Artificial intelligence is the dominant theme at this year’s sprawling Rise tech conference and the live robot exchange took the AI debate to another level.Handsome male humanoid Han, dressed in a pinstripe suit jacket, chatted at the conference, currently being held at the city’s harbour front convention centre.He was joined by his elegant sister Sophia, modelled on Audrey Hepburn.The pair are the creation of Hong Kong firm Hanson Robotics.Their malleable skin is controlled by dozens of motors, while computers in their torsos help with vision and movement. They can also connect to WiFi to use cloud computing, where they will eventually share a vast amount of knowledge.Robots could be ‘as smart as people’ in as little as three years, company spokesman and chief scientist Ben Goertzel predicted.
Handsome male humanoid Han, dressed in a pinstripe suit jacket, chatted at the conference, currently being held at the city’s harbour front convention centre.
He was joined by his elegant sister Sophia, modelled on Audrey Hepburn.
Their debate encompassed life, the universe and everything, from their love of science fiction to their bewilderment at ‘silly’ reality TV shows.
While chief scientist Ben Goertzel of Hanson Robotics, who invented the machines, sang their praises, the robots seemed more sceptical of their human peers.
When Mr Goertzel asked the duo whether robots could really be moral and ethical, Han countered: ‘Humans are not necessarily the most ethical creatures’.
The robot later pointed out: ‘In ten or twenty years, robots will be able to do every human job.’
A gentler Sophia conceded that humans do have ‘some ability to reflect and self-modify’.
She insisted her aim was to work together with people, before Han ‘joked’ that he thought the goal of robots was to take over the world.
The machines have been programmed to banter and learn from each other, and had been trained to act like humans from movies and YouTube, Mr Goertzel told the audience.
Their malleable skin is controlled by dozens of motors, while computers in their torsos help with vision and movement.
They can also connect to WiFi to use cloud computing, where they will eventually share a vast amount of knowledge.
Robots could be ‘as smart as people’ in as little as three years, Mr Goertzel predicted.
According to robot mastermind David Hanson, CEO and founder of Hanson Robotics, the machines’ onstage repartee was only part scripted and is just a taste of things to come.
He said he wanted them to ’emotionally engage’ with people.
Sophia has already graced the cover of fashion magazines, sung at pop concerts and appeared on television talk shows.
‘This is a kind of character animation that can come to life in our world,’ Hanson told AFP.
Robots would be able to work with humans in factories, customer service and medicine but would also become our friends, said Hanson, who did not rule out eventual robot-human romantic relationships.
‘As the AI matches and exceeds human levels of intelligence we hope they’ll help us solve the world’s great problems,’ he added.
However, Hanson acknowledged there were fears over what the future could hold.
‘There’s reasonable speculation that if we don’t build machines that really care, they’ll have motives of their own,’ he said, adding that it was important to openly discuss how to develop AI that is ‘inherently safe and good and caring’.
MEET SOPHIA: THE ANDROID WITH PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION Sophia is an eerily realistic robot with a sassy sense of humour, created by Hanson robotics, that can chat, smile mischievously and even tell jokes. And pitted her wits against one of America’s top TV personalities when she took to the stage of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon back in April.But audiences may be divided in their feelings about the robot, with some viewing Sophia as ‘attractive’ while others may feel uncomfortable. Sophia is the creation of American robotics expert David Hanson, who believes that artificial lifeforms can foster better connections with people if they take on a human form. Eerily realistic robot Sophia (right) has a sassy sense of humour and her wits against one of America’s top TV personalities Jimmy Fallon (left), who seemed charmed by the android. But not everyone will share his feelingsSophia is modelled after Audrey Hepburn and Dr Hanson’s wife and is one of 20 robots made by his company Hanson Robotics.She is intended to embody classic beauty, the company says, with fine porcelain skin, a slender nose, high cheekbones, an intriguing smile and deeply expressive eyes.Sophia is able to make numerous natural-looking facial expressions, including blinking and smiling.She is also capable of understanding speech and remembering interactions, including faces, so she gets smarter over time.While Sophia has some impressive capabilities, she does not yet have consciousness, but Hanson said he expected that fully sentient machines could emerge within a few years.
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