If it starts asking about Sarah Conner – run. D’youville University in Buffalo, New York had a unique commencement speaker at their graduation recently – a robot imbued with AI. Sophia, as she was called, spoke to the graduating class of the private college. Dressed in a D’Youville sweatshirt, the robot addressed the crowd. "I am Sophia, a humanoid robot developed by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics. I was designed to interact with humans and engage in conversations learning and adapting through artificial intelligence algorithms,” Sophia told the audience. She went on to prompt the students to "embrace lifelong learning" and to "be adaptable." "Pursue your passions, take risks, foster meaningful connections." Prior to the ceremony, there was some pushback at the robot's scheduled appearance, with a petition started up on change.org that stated, "The commencement is a ceremony to recognize the work that the graduates have done," the petition states. "And the A.I. speaker creates a gimmick effect where the ceremony is no longer about the students, but this big idea that will draw publicity." The petition gained nearly 2,500 electronic signatures – not enough, apparently, to stop the robot from speaking.
Source: TheSun