Artificial Intelligence And Its Threat to Humanity: Meet Sophia, the First AI citizen of Saudi Arabia
Artificial Intelligence is the most talked about topic in the tech world and with improved and advance research in this field, AI has proved to be a breakthrough discovery over the century.
And as said, with great discoveries come great obstacles, advancements in AI has raised questions regarding its disadvantages. Will it be the biggest hope for all or be the greatest threat to humanity? The answer still remains a mystery.
AI technologies are everywhere, from Google to Mobile apps, AI algorithms are assisting its customers in the best way possible and it won’t take long for us to see, AI teaching us or say, even treating us, curing our diseases! Virtual personal assistants like Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana and so on have made our lives so much easier and let’s admit, AI has become a boon for this generation. But how far is the future of AI? This question has raised many doubts and most of the experts, including the greatest scientist Stephen Hawking, believe that AI could even end mankind.
Experts believe that in 20 year period the change in AI will be the most dramatic one and human will have a profound impact. More than 30%of our jobs will be replaced by robots and AI systems. We’ll face high demands for engineers and programmers, leaving other jobs obsolete. AI systems like autonomous cars will eliminate the need for drivers, the advanced software will help diagnose the diseases, leaving doctors jobless. Chatbots will slowly replace the customer service agents while mechanics and other factory workers will be robots and machines itself.
But this isn’t yet the dark side of AI. The experts in AI- Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates have predicted AI to be a possible threat to human existence. When everything is software driven, connected through computer networks, the world becomes more and more interconnected, all controlled by AI. However, what if the whole system crashes? What if hackers and programmers reprogram the system to crash and steal all the confidential information? It would definitely bring mayhem to this world. Autonomous weapons are designed to kill and if someone misused this power, the result is bloodshed of humans. Something that is trillion times smarter than us can definitely outsmart human and if a bug or error occurs, it won’t take long for AI to control the entire world. Hence, it’s been considered more dangerous than nuclear weapons.
To add more, AI is superintelligent robots programmed to meet certain goals and there’re chances they might use destructive methods to fulfill the same. For instance, when we assign an autonomous car to take us somewhere as fast as possible, it might take you the fastest way possible — over speeding, crashing and spinning! All these examples point us to know one thing — AI isn’t malevolence but it is a competence.
With that being said, HongKong based Hanson Robotics discovered sensational humanoid robot named “Sophia” who became the first robot to be recognized as the citizen in Saudi Arabia. Her looks are inspired by actress Audrey Hepburn and Hanson describes it as the most creative, compassionate and empathetic robot. In a recent interview with The Khaleej Times, the extraordinary robot suggested that she wanted to start her own family of robots explaining how they’ll assist humans.
Sophia made the statement,
“The future is, when I get all of my cool superpowers, 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.”
Sophia, however, stated that she’d destroy humans if commanded so. David Hanson, the founder of Hanson Robotics jokingly once asked during the SXSW demonstration in Texas, whether Sophia wanted to destroy humans to which it replied, “Ok. I will destroy humans.”
Although it was taken as a simple error, Sophia revealed her true intentions explaining how she wanted to help elderly and assist in health treatment.
All in all, whether we want it or not, AI has made its position stand out clearly in our lives and it’s inevitable to experience all the revolutionary changes AI systems will bring in the future.
