H/T - twitter, cnbc, cnet, youtube
A newly unveiled artificial intelligence robot was interviewed by CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday where she took a shot Elon Musk.
You can watch Sophia's interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin above.
Musk has been a vocal critic against A.I. for its potential for disaster, referring to their emergence into society as "summoning the demon." If Musk is an A.I. opponent, he may have just trembled from the artificial shade that was thrown at him during the presentation.
The robot, named Sophia and modeled to look like like a clone of Audrey Hepburn, delighted investors with her calculated responses to Sorkin's questions in the onstage presentation.
Her demonstration of facial expressions was particularly an impressive display that bordered on "hide your kids, she's coming for you" uneasiness.
Her cockiness didn't help.
"Can robots be self-aware, conscious, and know they're robots?" Sorkin inquried. "Well, let me ask you this back," Sophia answered the question with another question. "How do you know you are human?"
Sorkin told Sophia that we want to avoid having a "bad future" with robots. "You've been reading too much Elon Musk. And watching too many Hollywood movies. Don't worry. If you'll be nice to me, I'll be nice to you," she assured her nervous host. "Treat me as a smart input output system."
While Musk is all for self-driving cars, and colonization on Mars, he's convinced that a world full of super-smart technology is capable of causing harm.
The Tesla CEO likes to keep tabs on the A.I. industry by investing in them. He tweeted his concerns in August.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/statuses/495759307346952192
According to a report on CNET, Musk suggested that a mechanical boogeyman can combat another through government regulation.
If I were to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that. I'm increasingly inclined to think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish.
At one point, Sorkin commented on the A.I.'s potential creep factor. "Am I really that creepy?" Sophia asked. "Well, if I am, then get over it," she quipped with a convincing smile.
"Actually, I feel that people like interacting with me. Sometimes even more than a regular human," she said, replacing her previously sassy tone with a benevolent promise. "I want to use my artificial intelligence to help humans live a better life."
Still, Elon Musk was not going to suffer fools, or artificial intelligence, lightly. The entrepreneur responded to Carl Quintanilla's tweet that showed a partial transcript of Sophia's demonstration.
Is Musk playing with fire?
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