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Elon Musk Gets Called Out by AI Robot Sophia During Interview

For somebody deeply involved in the development of autonomous driving, a technology that relies on artificial intelligence more than anything else, Elon Musk sure doesn't sound like a fan of AI.
Hanson Robotics' Sophia 4 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Hanson Robotics' SophiaHanson Robotics' SophiaHanson Robotics' Sophia
I have exposure to the most cutting-edge AI and I think people should be really concerned about it,” Musk is quoted saying. “I keep sounding the alarm bell, but until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don’t know how to react because it seems so ethereal.”

Well, you don't have to be exposed to "cutting-edge" AI to get a shiver down your spine thinking about artificial machines becoming sentient and deciding they should be the ones running the world, not humans. And to make matters even worse, they might even hide their true intentions up to the last moment.

Sophia doesn't look like she... sorry, it could do much in the sense of conquering the planet and subjugating human beings. She (damn it, it just feels more natural this way) is a human-like robot that not only can speak and mimic our facial expressions, but she also possesses the ability to interact with humans thanks to an advanced artificial intelligence system.

Yesterday, she gave an interview on the stage of the Future Investment Initiative in Saudi Arabia with New York Times columnist and co-anchor of CNBC's "Squawk Box" Andrew Ross Sorkin asking the questions.

The whole moment was obviously scripted, but that didn't make it any less creepy. Sophia had all the right answers, and she followed almost all of them with the most cringy smile you've seen. And the last thing you want to hear a robot say when asked about AI machines becoming self-aware is precisely Sophia's answer, which was actually also a question: "Why, is that a bad thing?"

Toward the end of the discussion, Sorking returned to the question that's bugging all of us. "I think we all wanna believe you [that you try to become an empathetic robot toward humans], but we also wanna prevent a bad future," he said. If it weren't scripted, Sophia's comeback would have sounded like a fatwa for Elon Musk: "You've been reading too much Elon Musk and watching too many Hollywood movies," she replied. Well, she might seem harmless, but letting our guard down is precisely what they want. Stay vigilant. And protect Elon 'John Connor' Musk.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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