Sophia smiles mischievously, bats her eyelids and tells a joke. Without the mess of cables that make up the back of her head, you could almost mistake her for a human.
The humanoid robot, created by Hanson Robotics, is the main attraction at a UN-hosted conference in Geneva last week on how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to benefit humanity.
The event comes as concerns grow that rapid advances in such technologies could spin out of human control and become detrimental to society.
Photo: Reuters
Sophia herself insisted “the pros outweigh the cons” when it comes to artificial intelligence.
“AI is good for the world, helping people in various ways,” she said, tilting her head and furrowing her brow convincingly.
Work is underway to make AI “emotionally smart, to care about people,” she said, insisting that “we will never replace people, but we can be your friends and helpers.”
However, she said that “people should question the consequences of new technology.”
Among the feared consequences of the rise of the robots is the growing effect they would have on human jobs and economies.
Decades of automation and robotization have already revolutionized the industrial sector, raising productivity, but cutting some jobs.
Automation and AI are expanding rapidly into other sectors, with studies indicating that up to 85 percent of jobs in developing countries could be at risk.
“There are legitimate concerns about the future of jobs, about the future of the economy, because when businesses apply automation, it tends to accumulate resources in the hands of very few,” Sophia’s creator David Hanson said.
However, like his progeny, he said that “unintended consequences, or possible negative uses [of AI] seem to be very small compared to the benefit of the technology.”
For example, AI is expected to revolutionize healthcare and education, especially in rural areas with shortages of doctors and teachers.
“Elders will have more company, autistic children will have endlessly patient teachers,” Sophia said.
However, advances in robotic technology have sparked fears that humans could lose control.
Also at the conference was Amnesty International secretary-general Salil Shetty to call for a clear ethical framework to ensure the technology is used for good.
“We need to have the principles in place, we need to have the checks and balances,” he said, warning that AI is “a black box... There are algorithms being written which nobody understands.”
Shetty voiced particular concern about military use of AI in weapons and so-called “killer robots.”
“In theory, these things are controlled by human beings, but we don’t believe that there is actually meaningful, effective control,” he said.
The technology is also increasingly being used in the US for “predictive policing,” where algorithms based on historic trends could “reinforce existing biases” against people of certain ethnicities, Shetty said.
Hanson agreed that clear guidelines were needed, saying it was important to discuss these issues “before the technology has definitively and unambiguously awakened.”
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.
“What happens when [Sophia fully] wakes up or some other machine, servers running missile defense or managing the stock market?” he asked.
The solution, he said, is “to make the machines care about us.”
“We need to teach them love,” Hanson said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six