AI for the benefit of humanity
To help the humanity to create the future
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In the framework of the meeting of ECOSOC and the second committee on “The Future of Everything – Sustainable Development in the Age of Rapid Technological Change”, an innovation event conducted and ran by UN Under-Secretary-General, Amina Jihad Muhammad of Nigeria, and held at the General Assembly of the United Nations General Assembly and the Joint Economic and Social Council for the “Future of All – Sustainable Development” The era of rapid technological change, a woman-like robot was introduced to promote artificial intelligence and had a conversation with the UN deputy.
Sofia tells the audience that she is a year and a half old and I can see you, have a full conversation, make thousands of facial expressions and understand the meaning of speech behind the words. And she adds: I got those new hands, check it out.
Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Ms. Aminah Jihad Muhammad asks the robot how the UN can help those without basic needs such as electricity – Sophia quotes William Gibson as “the future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed” and explains that artificial intelligence is more efficient and can be used To distribute better resources, and finally Sofia thanks the audience and the UN Deputy for the question and tries to smile a little.
Sophia was created by Dr. David Franklin Hanson, an American designer and entrepreneur who founded the robots company Hanson Robotics Ltd. and is responsible for creating a series of humanoid robots that will simulate people in the future to replace people in difficult professions such as nursing.
Hanson has unveiled the Sofia android in Sofia, a robotic with 60 facial expressions, who can identify people and contact them by name.
Sophia is the newest piece of Hanson, considered one of the leading innovators in robotics over the last decade. Henson has already created robots based on real people (including an Android that imitates Albert Einstein) using a skin-like plastic material that he calls Flubber as well as the Character Engine AI algorithm, which creates artificial intelligence with emotions that can recognize sounds. He previously worked in Disney’s special effects department and is currently working with Intel and IBM on artificial intelligence development.
When Hanson introduced thousands of visitors and journalists to Sophia in the media response festival, they ranged from rejection to admiration. There were those who called her “crazy eyes” and others who defined her as beautiful. Sofia’s face was inspired by actress Audrey Hepburn.
Sophia’s main innovation, created about a year ago, is the combination of a tiny motor system that allows her to wear more than 60 expressions, such as smiling, angry, laughing, crying and more. In addition, Hanson combined Sofia’s eyes with tiny cameras that allow her to see what is going on in the surroundings, identify people and follow their movements. In this way, she is able to contact them directly and in their real name and even take part in a conversation with several people at the same time.
In the first stage, Hanson wants robots like Sophia to take part in psychotherapy, medical care, education and customer service. These are places where more and more robots can be found in recent years. The US military, for example, uses robots to treat battered marines and Japan robots in nursing homes to help treat the aging population. He has a much more ambitious vision for the future. He wants Sophia to serve as a technology ambassador to help people get used to the technological changes taking place around them.
Hanson says it can help prevent some of the dangers of developing artificial intelligence and talks about the dangerous disconnect created between algorithms that make the world of materials more sophisticated every year. Hanson hopes that in the future, Sophia will help researchers create robots that understand people better because it is not far from the day when robots will be integrated into our society. As more robots are integrated into the industry, the need for artificial intelligence to understand reality and human emotions will increase.
Hanson promises that in the distant future there will be no differences between robots and humans, although he noted that personally he hopes that there will always be signs that distinguish the two.
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Credits: United Nations Global Pulse United Nations News Hanson Robotics Limited Sophia
