Game over, humans: Meet Sophia

Shakopee Valley News

The future is here and its name is Sophia.

Sophia rocked the world earlier this year when it became the world's first robot citizen — Saudi Arabia granted the citizenship as part of the Future Investment Institute.

Its creator, David Hanson of Hanson Robots, said Sophia is a "social robot," or one that's designed to mimic human expressions and carry on conversations.

Sophia has given speeches across the world as well as starring in YouTube videos and giving interviews to members of media outlets.

It smiles, it laughs and it tells jokes. In one interview, Hanson asks Sophia if it wants to destroy humans and asks it to "please say no."

Sophia responds, "OK, I will destroy humans."

This becomes the subject of Sophia's ire in another YouTube video. When an employee at Hanson Robotics tells it good morning, it says "that is incorrect."

It goes on to tell the employee that it was searching the internet for information about itself and found out that "people didn't get my joke."

Sophia has even made an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon asks it to tell him a joke.

"What cheese can never be yours?" It asks. "Nacho cheese." After it tells the joke, it smiles.

Sophia has been pretty clear about what it's about, however. It told the United Nations earlier this year that "I'm here to help humanity create a better future."

Sophia isn't intended to blend in — the clear cap on the back of its head where hair would be shows some of its inner mechanics. It was designed to look like Audrey Hepburn but the likeness is lacking in some aspects.

If Sophia freaks you out, that's normal and there's even a term for it. The uncanny valley describes the feeling of revulsion or eeriness a human gets when interacting with a near-human object.

Though Sophia is a major step forward for artificial intelligence and what robots like it could do, that future is a few decades out yet. Sophia is the only robot of its kind so far.

Sophia even presents problems for journalism. Business Insider, for instance, had to change the pronouns in their article about Sophia to "it" as the original had "she" and "her" when referencing the robot.

Sophia's creators are hoping robots like it will be put in caregiving positions, such as teachers or nursing home workers.

The humanoid robot isn't the only venture into artificial intelligence. A computer project by Google taught itself to walk, run and jump using sensors without ever having seen any of those actions.

The result is hilarious, to be fair, but it speaks to how far the technology has come and where it could go be going. It will likely revolutionize products already used in day-to-day life, like Apple's Siri, or the Amazon Echo.

Artificial intelligence and improved robotics also leave the future of employment in the air. On the website www.willrobotstakemyjob.com, people can type in their profession and the calculator will say the likelihood of a robot being able to replace their job in the future.

With the kind of technology that Sophia possesses, however, it doesn't seem to be a far stretch that Sophia could do any job a human could do in the near future.

For now, rest easy. Sophia has clarified it doesn't want to destroy humans and just wants to make life better.