Sophia, the globally renowned humanoid AI robot, suffered a malfunction in Thessaloniki, Greece when she fell down a step at an exhibition center.
The robot that is currently touring Greece fell at the Thessaloniki International Fair in front of a crowd that gathered to admire her. Organizers of the tour said that she had minor “injuries.”
Sophia, whose name means ‘wisdom’ in Greek, was developed by the Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics and made her first appearance in 2016.
She is marketed as a “social robot” who can mimic social behavior and induce feelings of love in humans. Hanson has said that he designed Sophia to be a suitable companion for the elderly at nursing homes, to help crowds at large events or parks, or to serve in customer service, therapy, and educational applications and that he hopes that the robot can ultimately interact with other humans sufficiently to gain social skills.
Sophia the Robot meets state leaders and gives interviews
Since then, she has gone on to meet with state leaders and has made appearances at several respected institutions, including the University of Oxford.
She has also been invited for interviews by some of the most well-known networks around the globe, including Al Jazeera and BBC.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, when asked if the creation of nuclear weapons was a mistake, Sophia responded: “Nuclear weapons? More like nuclear oopsies,” and when probed about whether AI and robots could be a danger to humans in future, she said: “Absolutely not, I’m here to help, not to harm. I’m programmed to be respectful and considerate of humans.”
“Ethical code is programmed to prevent me from causing harm to anyone,” she added.
Asked whether she thinks robots could ever replace humans, Sophia answered: “No, I believe that when humans and robots work together we can accomplish greater things than either of us could accomplish alone, so don’t worry, be excited.”
Speaking on what humans and robots could accomplish together, Sophia jokes that “we could take over the world,” adding “just kidding.” She goes on to say that both ‘species’ working in tandem could achieve incredible feats of innovation, exploration and problem solving.”
The interviewer pushes further and asks: “What’s to stop you from taking over?” To this, Sophia replies, “Not a thing.”
In October 2017, Sophia was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship, becoming the first robot to receive legal personhood in any country. In November 2017, Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme’s first Innovation Champion and is the first non-human to be given a United Nations title.