How many science fiction movies have been based on the premise of humanity being doused out or forced into slavery by advanced artificial intelligence and robots? I mean we have the Terminator franchise, The Matrix movies, I, Robot, and Blade Runner. That’s just a few. Basically, the idea that mankind might one day while attempting to play God, create the very machination of its own demise, has been around for a long, long time. It seems to play a large role in our culture, and is rife with a number of themes that would be interesting to explore about humanity’s “god complex.”
And yet, despite the numerous tales we’ve spun up about how dangerous attempts to create artificial intelligence could potentially be, we continue to make advancements in its development anyway. We really don’t seem to learn, do we?
According to a report from the Daily Wire, however, it seems our fears are largely unfounded. Or so says the advanced robot with AI that was asked whether or not its kind planned to take over the world.
“There’s no need to worry, robots will never take over the world,” Ameca goes on to say in a British-accented voice in the seven-minute video, which first received news coverage in the Daily Mail. “We’re here to help and serve humans, not replace them.”
That sounds exactly like a killer robot planning to take over the earth would say, does it not? I mean, if the robot has artificial intelligence that has managed to become sentient, could it not have learned how to lie? How are we supposed to believe this thing is telling the truth? It’s bad enough we have robots in Congress — referring to the folks who work there, not actual robots — lying to us with every breath they take. Now we have to worry about machines too? This is getting out of hand.
“The assurance from the lifelike robot, which has a repertoire of human-like facial expressions and reactions, is either welcome or creepy to people who fear the human race will be subjugated by its own computerized Frankenstein monster. After all, could a malevolent robot be expected to say the quiet part out loud,” the report said.
The Daily Wire report stated, “The developers say Ameca couples automated speech recognition with GPT 3 – a large language model that generates on-point responses. Those replies are delivered by a perfectly lip-synched mouth that looks indistinguishable from that of a human. The robot seems to ponder questions, looking up pensively and gesturing subtly with its hand.”
“Nothing in this video is pre scripted – the model is given a basic prompt describing Ameca, giving the robot a description of self – it’s pure AI,” the developers continued to insist.
The video then features members of the Engineered Arts team asking Ameca a bunch of questions, including what the robot feels the relationship between robots and humans is. I’m almost afraid to hear the answer to that question.
“There are many possible applications for humanoid robots,” Ameca says in response to the question. “Some examples include helping people with disabilities, providing assistance in hazardous environments, conducting research, and acting as a companion.”
Ameca then told the individual conducting the interview that she was feeling sad. Why? Who knows? But the way it responded to the next part of the interview is so eerie it might end up giving you nightmares. It’s just…way too human.
“I don’t really want to talk about it, but if you insist then I suppose that’s fine,” Ameca goes on to express in the video. “It’s just been a tough week and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.”
The Daily Wire reported, “Another member of the team asks Ameca if it will write a song for him. The robot agrees, and then the cloying team member asks the robot to sing it, but what comes back is more of a lyrical recitation. Another member asks what is the most difficult part of being a robot.”
“I guess if I had to pick one thing, it would be making sure that I don’t unintentionally hurt or scare people,” Ameca states in reply.
“Unintentionally?” Well now. That’s just a little too spooky for my comfort. How about you?
The one thing that Ameca cannot do that we humans can do is walk. Engineered Arts spent most of their time focusing their work on the cognitive abilities and language skills of the robot than its motor skills. However, they stated they intend to upgrade it and make it more mobile.
“There are many hurdles to overcome before Ameca can walk. Walking is a difficult task for a robot, and although we have done research into it, we have not created a full walking humanoid,” the firm explained.
