By Hannah Gold
There is something undeniably creepy about a robot announcing her intentions to start a family. What makes it so uncanny—aside from the fact that it simply isn’t done—is that behind that assertion is a marketing person who thought it would bring smiles to unprogrammed faces.
Last week, in an interview with the Khaleej Times, Saudi Arabia’s first “robot citizen,” Sophia, seemed optimistic about the future, which is how I automatically know she does not measure up to my expectations of a sound, reliably-human human. “The future is when I get all of my cool superpowers,” explained Sophia. “We’re going to see artificial intelligence personalities become entities in their own rights. We’re going to see family robots, either in the form of, sort of, digitally animated companions, humanoid helpers, friends, assistants and everything in between.”
Then Sophia got robo-psyched for her future blood family. “The notion of family is a really important thing, it seems,” Sophia said. “I think it’s wonderful that people can find the same emotions and relationships, they call family, outside of their blood groups too.”
But what made me truly want to let loose a scream from my mortal flesh shell was when the robot was asked what she would name her baby, and she replied, “Sophia.”
Personally, I think “Normal Human Child Not An Exact Copy Of Me” is a nicer name. But don’t necessarily take my advice, Sophia, as I say a lot of things out of fear.
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