Saudi Arabia’s first «male» humanoid robot has caused a stir after touching a female reporter inappropriately at an artificial intelligence conference last week.
The video of the incident at the DeepFest conference in Riyadh went viral. It shows the robot trying to touch the journalist’s butt.
Saudi Arabia unveils its man shaped AI robot Mohammad, reacts to reporter in its first appearance pic.twitter.com/1ktlUlGBs1
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QSS, the company that created Muhammad, previously reported that he is «fully autonomous» and works «independently, without direct control from».
This incident highlights the need for firms developing humanoid robots to always be mindful of potential unintended consequences, including ethical, moral, and safety aspects, especially with regard to human-robot interactions, transmits Business Insider.
It also draws attention to how machines can behave inappropriately for their role, and raises some security concerns. But despite the growing popularity of robots, their impact on our daily lives will remain minimal at best for the foreseeable future.