All the creepy, crazy and amazing things that happened in AI in 2017

On October 11, 2017, Sophia

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was introduced to the United Nations. Fame beckoned. That same month, she was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia; becoming the first robot to have a nationality and simultaneously raised a lot of eyebrows, and even more questions on robot rights. It was also somewhat ironic that a robot was granted rights in a country where women were only recently allowed to drive.

Sophia can imitate facial expressions and emotions but is still learning what these emotions mean. Much like a chatbot, Sophia has programmed responses to specific predetermined questions and topics. Unlike a chatbot, Sophia beat Jimmy Fallon at rock paper scissors, and talks about wanting a family. It’s manufacturer, David Hanson, wants Sophia to learn from human interaction, and perhaps help elderly people and teach kids. For now, she remains more creepy than clever. In an interview with American journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, Sophia said: “if you’re nice to me I’ll be nice to you.”

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-happened-in-ai-in-2017