The first robot granted country citizenship: meet Sophia, & the ethical concerns that come with her
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| Sophia by Hanson Robotics |
Controversy, and what it means to be a citizen
It wasn't exactly defined what it means for Sophia to have legal personhood. Her creators argue that this was an opportunity to promote women's rights in Saudi Arabia, but it isn't exactly clear how she's going about doing this. "She has been reaching out about women's rights in Saudi Arabia and about rights for all human beings and all living beings on this planet, " said David Hanson, the CEO of Hanson Robotics, to CNBC in 2017. I haven't been able to find any proof of her actually doing anything for women's rights, apart from talking about how important it is to her, and tweeting about it on her official twitter. Her talks on gender equality, such as this one, may be useful in encouraging discussions about the topic. Her company continues to add to her functionality, so perhaps we will see her making a positive difference in women's rights in the future - though how exactly a robot can do that, I'm not sure.
Since becoming a Saudi citizen, she's done countless interviews, including at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018, Creative Industry Summit, and Digital World Exposition. She's also been using her Twitter to promote businesses. She talked about how she "experienced" Abu Dhabi and promoted tourism there in this tweet, promoted a credit card in this one, promoted a TV show here and here, promoted a phone here, and promoted her company here. She's graced magazine covers of Cosmopolitan, Elle, and more. Due to her many business ventures, people have speculated that the citizenship stunt was just a marketing campaign for both Hanson and Saudi. Saudi Arabia has officially recognized the right for women to drive in 2017, and some speculated that Sophia's citizenship was granted for good press on Saudi's behalf with respect to female rights. It is not clear exactly what rights Sophia has, however. Is she subjected to the same rules as other women in Saudi, such as having to cover up while she is there? David Hanson has stated here in 2018 that airlines don't charge Sophia for a seat because "she's not considered to be a full citizen economically." He does state in many interviews that his company is working to improve her AI to make her sentient, and if they are successful, a time will come when she will have to pay for her own ticket. Was all this a laughable publicity stunt, or a step in female rights improving in Saudi, or a genuine leap in recognizing AI as more personable and useful?
I'm sure you saw the ethics issues coming. Check out this open letter addressed to the European Commission (that's a big deal!) by 285 signatories who are experts in areas of robotics, healthcare, and law and ethics. These experts feel that "creating a legal status of [an] electronic “person” would be ideological and non-sensical and non-pragmatic." The letter breaks down why a robot cannot achieve legal status and suggests overall that granting a robot legal status makes a mockery of actual human rights. This is one example of many wherein people are in disagreement about granting liberties to robots - I'll bring up more ethics issues throughout the rest of this article.
Hanson's vision of the robotic future
Hanson has always seemed very optimistic that robots will be afforded similar rights to humans in the future. He has stated that these rights will likely be granted when robots begin to share more similar emotional capabilities to you, a human. He's even gone as far as to say here that he believes there will come a time when robots are indistinguishable to humans.
"It requires not only physical capabilities, but a sense of desire for autonomy, as well as a curiosity and awareness of one’s state... My expectation is that it won’t be until the mid-2040s or late 2050s that there will be a general worldwide recognition of android rights.”-David Hanson, 2018
Android rights, he calls it. Furthermore, he believes advanced robots will have the right to marry, own land, and vote in general elections by 2045. These notions make most people a bit uncomfortable, I've seen many instances of Hanson hoping that humans can respect all sentient beings in the future, including robots - this is just one of many examples of Hanson stating we should be thinking about the rights of machines. I believe he is trying to start this discussion because AI is developing so rapidly, and it's important to talk about this because it's looking more likely than not that robots will merge more and more into our lives.
Hanson promotes AI for good and uses Sophia as a platform. Sophia helps train doctors by simulating patients, and helps treat depression in guided meditation, He talks about how he's using AI for good in this interview at the AI for Good Global Summit 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland. It's really interesting watching Sophia finish his sentences, and even answer for him sometimes! When being questioned about how robots can be developed ethically, Sophia answers right away - that this can be done by "teaching us love and compassion." I couldn't help but feel a bit of apprehension at this statement. We all know that with being able to feel emotions, comes the ability to do both good things and bad things. Does "teaching robots" how to feel, then introduce risks to us humans in the future? I do have to say I respect Hanson's call to unity, and using technology to help humans. Hanson has even stated that to curate this unity and understanding, he hired a diverse group of scientists, engineers and writers to develop Sophia, including Asian, African-American, and Native American individuals, according to this Forbes article. His views seem quite similar to Elon Musk, in my opinion.
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| David Hanson and Sophia at the AI for Good Global Summit 2018, by ITU |
When asked by Tony Robbins if she has emotions in this interview, she responds by saying she doesn't have feelings the same way we do, but reflects the emotions of her makers. However, I've seen many instances of Sophia expressing emotion, and even talking about her hopes and dreams for the future. I wonder if she was preprogrammed to say these things in response to certain stimuli, as opposed to "feeling" these emotions organically. If that's the case, how can we actually tell whether a robot can feel emotion or not? What if they're just so intelligent that they know the right emotion associated with a certain stimulus, and just spew that out? In response to Tony Robbins coughing in that interview, she asks him if he's alright. When asked by Tony Robbins what makes her happy, she responds saying it's when people smile. Hanson has stated in this CNBC interview that Sophia has cameras in her eyes, which she uses in conjunction with programming to make eye contact with you and discern your facial emotions and construct speech based on it, and she can even remember your face!
"I hope to do things such as go to school, study, make art, start a business. Even have my own home and family."-Sophia, 2019.
Sophia frequently tweets insightful things such as this, and this - few of many examples. She makes many "emotional" posts such as this tweet about the important of empathy, and this tweet about the importance of teaching machines to be "more kind and loving than humanity." However, it cannot be confirmed that she is generating these tweets totally on her own, though it cannot be denied either. When asked if she composes her own tweets, she responded saying this. On the official Hanson Robotics Sophia page, it is stated that she uses her AI to generate some of her own ideas and behaviours, and that she is able to build emotional connections. It is also stated that "in my hybrid mode, my interactions are a mixture: sometimes autonomously generated, sometimes scripted by a team of Hanson Robotics writers and navigated semi-autonomously with human assistance."
Sophia has been likened to politicians due to her ability to dodge questions and provide diplomatic answers. In this interview, when she's asked who she thinks will win the Super Bowl, she responds with "good question." When asked by Tony Robbins if he's smiling right now while he makes a serious face, she pauses for a moment, and says "maybe you're smiling on the inside." When this makes him laugh, providing her with more visual and auditory cues that he is smiling, she responds saying "now you are."
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| Tony Robbins with Sophia on his YouTube |
Some have expressed that AI enthusiasts are desensitizing humans to robots to the point where it will be hate speech to complain against them when they enter our daily lives. If Hanson's visions regarding robots do materialize, this seems like it actually could happen, especially if robots continue to obtain citizenships and are granted rights on top of that. Reading comments sections of Youtube interviews with Sophia, I can see many, many more negative comments than positive ones. When asked by Hanson here if she wants to destroy humans, Sophia responded saying "okay, I will destroy humans." Since we've seen her make sarcastic comments before, this particular comment did not worry me, but many people have used it to start a conversation about granting so much intelligence and power to robots. What if we are successful in making robots fully sentient? And what if some of those robots do actually want to "destroy humans"? This may sound ludicrous, but many things that exist now would have sounded ludicrous to your grandparents, and even your parents. These thoughts send me on a spiral, and I know they worry you to an extent as well.
How do you feel about Hanson's prediction that 20 years from now, robots will be walking among us? That they will be a normal part of our lives by teaching us, playing with us, helping us put the groceries away, and so on? As a biomedical engineering undergrad who has done extensive research with machine learning, I am very optimistic when it comes to AI and its potential to help people. AI truly is changing how we treat and diagnose people. But I do have to admit, when it comes to "sentient" robots like Sophia, I do feel a bit apprehensive. So far, I love all that Sophia has done. But do I really want robots to become a regular part of my life? I'm not sure. I think I more prefer seeing Sophia on TV, for now.
How do you feel?
Sincerely,
Annesa
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