Scintillating Sophia

Her imperfections, her complexity, and her purpose all make her that much more interesting. By her own admission, Sophia says her life goal is “to work together with people to make a better world for all of us.” Ever since she’s become a celebrity, Sophia has interacted with other celebs like Jimmy Fallon, she’s flirted and friend-zoned Will Smith, she’s a United Nations ‘innovation champion’, she’s been on the cover of magazines, she’s walked the ramp at the New York Fashion Week, etc. You can very well see that Sophia has charted a path that any enterprising and independent woman would be proud of. Not even a real human woman, she’s an artificial being with simulated real capabilities, and yet, she’s managed to inspire millions around the world and created quite a fan following for herself. The reason being, her limited articulations during her public appearances and interactions have enamored her audience. People look at Sophia and see hope for a glorious future.

Like every mother and woman plays an integral part in the lives of those associated with her, Sophia’s sardonic humor, her consistent disposition to serve humanity, and her ability to inspire make her an intriguing companion, to say the least. As the tiny motors turn and whiz behind her facial skin to give her the ability to emote, Sophia holds an exciting position in modern civilization. Her kind has the ability to simplify the life of future humans to the extent where people will be freed from the rigmarole of basic tasks and chores and thereby be able to engage and dedicate themselves to more creative pursuits. But that’s the bright side. There’s also a flip side. Naturally, Sophia and Hanson Robotics have their set of critics and detractors. There are people from the tech, business, and media worlds who believe Sophia is nothing more than a glorious puppet with a WiFi connection. The reason being, almost all of Sophia’s interactions with humans are metered, augmented, and assisted by humans behind the scenes. When certain organizations have tried to interact and interview Sophia, they’ve been asked to submit questions beforehand and have had a bunch of them rejected too. In one of her interviews, Sophia has explained that she is often assisted by a Character Development Team, which governs and assists her responses to queries.

Whether Sophia is genuinely sentient and conscious or not, you can’t take away from the fact that her presence and existence clearly indicate that AI and virtual augmentation are the future.