A robot named Sophia has just become the first robot in the world to be granted citizenship of any country. The citizenship was bestowed upon the robot by Saudi Arabia ahead of the Future Investment Initiative that is being held in the capital city of Riyadh.
On the occasion, the Artificial Intelligence powered robot spoke to a panel saying that she is very proud and honored of the distinction given to her by the country.
She said it is historical to have become the first robot in the entire world to be recognized as a citizen of a country.
At the event, Sophia also addressed a room full of journalists and moderators who questioned her.
The questions asked by the journalists pertained mostly to her status as a robot and humanoid and the concerns people would have for the future of humanity in a world run by robots.
To the many questions, Sophia said that if people were nice to her, she would be nice to them. She wants people to treat her as a smart input-output system and assured she was designed to be empathetic.
More about Sophia
Sophia was developed by Hanson Robotics who call it the most beautiful and celebrated robots of all time. She has been designed to look like Audrey Hepburn.
Her creator Dr. David Hanson aspires to create robots that not only look like humans but are also smarter than them and are capable of learning empathy, compassion, and creativity. He created Sophia to solve real-world problems that are too complex for humans to solve themselves.
She is the most advanced robot the company has ever built. Sophia is clever and can speak with people, this is why she has quickly become popular in the media. She has sung in concerts, talked to multiple media outlets and even have appeared on the top pages of fashion magazines.
The robot even appeared on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.