Saudi Arabia has granted citizenship to a robot
Sofia is allowed to appear in public without a male escort and without a scarf on her head.
Saudi Arabia became the first country in the world conferring nationality on the robot. A robot named Sofia, produced by Hong Kong company Hanson Robotics, was presented at the ongoing Riyadh conference Future Investment Initiative. However, women in Saudi Arabia have accepted the emergence of a new citizen.
According to the inventor of Sophia David Hanson, she has artificial intelligence (AI) and can recognize people’s faces, and its face 62 is able to portray human emotion.
During the presentation, Sophia came on stage and told the crowd: “I’m the newest and the best the robot from Hanson Robotics company. I think that sometimes people like to chat with me than with other people.” After joining she answered questions from the audience. When the host of the conference announced that the government of Saudi Arabia decided to grant her citizenship, Sofia replied, “Thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For me it is a great honor and I’m proud of it. Become the world’s first robot with citizenship is an event of historical importance”.
The government of Saudi Arabia statement on the occasion of this event appreciated the importance of the development of AI, and announced plans to create a special industrial business zones NEOM in the North-West of the country, where experts will work to develop new technologies. In this project, the authorities intend to invest $500 billion.
However, Saudi women responded negatively to the emergence of a new citizen. Discussing this event on social media, they did not fail to mention that she just became a citizen, and the rights she has more than them. According to the women on stage Sofia went unaccompanied adult men and it is unlikely that she received his permission to do so. In addition, neither the head nor the body had not been closed as it is supposed to do Saudi women. Participating in discussions also was interested in the question of whether Sofia to travel outside the country without the permission of a male guardian, as required by the laws of Saudi Arabia.