Bogota, Jul 3 (EFE).- Sophia, the social humanoid developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, on Tuesday said that she believes that robots and humans can be “incredible” partners when combining their abilities.
“Nothing can replace a human life,” the automaton told EFE in an interview. “We robots will need your emotional and social intelligence to guide us toward making decisions that benefit everyone. These creative and emotional abilities will become the future’s human jobs.”
Sophia – who was activated in 2015 – will be a keynote speaker at the 33rd edition of Andicom, an international information and communication technology convention taking place in Cartagena, Colombia from August 29-31.
To many, Sophia’s creator, David Hanson, pushed the boundaries of artificial intelligence by manufacturing a robot capable of human-like expression, as well as visual data processing and facial recognition.
In October 2017, she was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship during the Future Investment Initiative Summit in Riyadh, an event that sparked debate among women’s rights activists worldwide.
Sophia is a far cry from machines such as Deep Blue, the emblematic IBM computer that defeated Russian chess legend Gary Kasparov in 1996 and is considered the icon of the fourth industrial revolution.
According to estimates by IDC, a market consulting group based in Massachusetts, investments in robotics worldwide will double over the next few years, going from $91,500 million in 2016 to more than $188,000 million by 2020.