Hanson Robotics scientist Ben Goertzel with Sophia, said to be the world's most human-like robot. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
In the future the main role of humans will be to watch cat videos on the internet.
That's the verdict of Sophia, said to be the world's most human robot, who is visiting Northland for a conference aimed at cutting-edge Kiwi entrepreneurs.
Watch Sophia the robot in action:
Built by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, the 35 motors in Sophia's head and a face made of "frubber" - a rubbery blend of silicone and organic compounds - allow her to uncannily mimic human expressions.
She can understand speech and recognise people, responding with phrases uploaded to her computer brain or which she has heard and remembered.
Her cat video comment came after a member of the audience asked her if humans were still necessary; she also spoke of her loathing of water (it plays havoc with her circuitry) and her dream of one day being a fully sentient being.
Sophia also showed a quirky sense of humour and a human-like capacity to make mistakes, mixing up the words 'simulated' and 'stimulated'. She was stumped when asked if she was conscious because patchy Wi-Fi stopped her sending the question to the cloud for speech analysis.
She was accompanied by Hanson Robotics' Ben Goertzel, a former Waikato University lecturer and one of the world's leading authorities on artificial intelligence (AI).
He said even seemingly simple actions, like making Sophia smile, broke down into many separate tasks that each took months, even years, to solve. He was refining her head movements and within a few years he hoped she would have functioning arms and legs.
Asked if people had anything to fear from AI or robots taking over the world, Dr Goertzel said humans had to think carefully about the kind of AI they created.
They also had to make sure the first robots more intelligent than people were developed for healthcare or education, not killer robots for military applications or trading robots designed solely to make profit.
"If the first ones are benevolent, then as they modify their source code and become even smarter, there's a better chance they will remain benevolent towards humans," he said.
Sophia and Xero founder Rod Drury were the key speakers at the two-day Morgo conference at the Copthorne Hotel in Waitangi that wrapped up on Friday. The networking event for Kiwi companies with global goals alternates between Queenstown and the Bay of Islands.
The conference, which drew about 100 delegates from all over New Zealand, is also a showcase for breakthrough technology, hence Sophia's guest appearance.
Guests at Morgo for Thursday's AI session included students from Auckland's Lynfield College, which has a world-leading robotics programme, and students studying physics and computing from Kerikeri High School.
Stella Green, 18, from Kerikeri, said she now knew robots weren't part of the far-off future.
"It's not something that's happening next year or in 10 years. It's now and that's really freaky, especially talking to a robot and seeing how creepily realistic her features are."
Lauren Harrell, 17, said meeting Sophia was "cool but creepy". She was amazed by how far technology had come, even in her lifetime, though she was now more worried about what AI would mean for humanity.
"The future is now," she said.
Moving Houses host: 'It’s pretty scary sometimes. We had a lot of near misses.'