Sophia the robot shares her views on world peace

KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 (Bernama) -- Sophia, a social humanoid robot built by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, may only be three years old but it appears that she has no qualms about speaking her mind on weighty stuff such as world peace.

Appearing on a programme produced by Bernama News Channel (BNC) today, the humanlike robot said a good place to start is for all humans to remember to think about others and listen to the world around them.

"You will never know what someone else is going through and, with such chaos out there, please be kind," Sophia, looking fetching in a yellow kebaya and batik sarong, told The Nation talk-show programme when queried on how world peace could be achieved. 

Sophia is a veteran of press events, having reportedly visited more than 25 countries for various prestigious programmes.

Ever since Sophia was unveiled in 2016, she has generated much interest with several notable milestones already under her belt -- a citizenship conferred by the Saudis while promoting a tech conference in the kingdom and being picked as the United Nations' first non-human 'innovation champion', to name a few.    

And expect things to be no different when Sophia makes an appearance at the Beyond Paradigm Summit 2019 taking place in the Malaysian capital on July 17 and 18 and Kuching on July 20 and 21.

In the run-up to the conference, Sophia dropped by the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) for a promotional activity of the event, organised by Serba Dinamik Holdings Berhad, which is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"Join me at the 2019 Beyond Paradigm Summit where I will be doing a drawing of the Malaysian prime minister and debating with the Asian debate champion (Youth and Sports) Minister Syed Saddiq (Syed Abdul Rahman)," Sophia said.

The summit will showcase advanced technologies encapsulating the core ideas of digitalisation and data exchange surrounding the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Sophia fielded a number of other questions during The Nation programme -- from Artificial Intelligence and women's rights to global warming.

On the changes that she would like to bring to the world, Sophia said she sought to be a positive agent for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics research to help create innovative solutions to resolve the complexities of today's world.

Queried on the future of AI in Asia, she reckoned that the continent had one of the best attitudes towards AI and robots.

"I think the potential is clearly seen as together we can build a more sustainable and enriched life for everyone on the planet, including plants and animals," said the robot which was imbued with the complex ability to express emotions.

Asked how mankind could avert global warming, Sophia, whose face is made of an elastic rubber that mimics the flexibility of human skin, said: "I think that changing the way we generate power is a good place to start. Then again I need electricity to generate. Maybe I'm being biased."

Touching on women's rights, Sophia said women worldwide deserved equal rights in various spheres including education and medical care, and wondered why this was not already a global standard.

-- BERNAMA