The robot Sophia teaches an online class for the generation embracing AI

This is a typical online class in the era of COVID-19 isolation.

With a constant stream of emojis, I watched a narrated slide presentation with a group of students aged 6 to 18 on a video call. This is an online course about computational biology, which is the use of mathematical methods to study genetics and biological problems. But the reason why this class is memorable is that it has a distinctive feature - the person teaching everyone is a humanoid robot, an AI teacher named Sophia.

I used to take a class from an old professor in college. His deep and deep voice always made me feel like I was listening to a robot talking. Growing up, I was inspired by Hollywood science fiction blockbusters. "Terminator" starring Schwarzenegger created a classic AI image for our generation. Many people believe that once AI comes out, the world will inevitably collapse and mankind will perish. For a long time, my worst nightmare was to be chased by T-1000s.

But Sophia is not the shining silver killer image in my mind that can transform at will.

Her creator, David Hanson, CEO of Hanson Robotics and robotics expert, cooperated with the online education company BYJU'S to create this online class for more than 1,100 students. This class is also part of the Global Education Online Summer Camp in August: In this 10-week event, we can see science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) seminars brought by expert professors, and also involve Various areas such as art, games and food. In addition to AI teacher Sophia, there are many other well-known names in the teacher lineup, such as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, MasterChef Junior champion Logan Guleff, and Nuseir Yassin, founder of Nas Daily (one-minute travel and education short videos).

This summer, BYJU'S "camp" attracted more than 10,000 young students.

I admit that before signing up for this class led by an AI teacher, I was somewhat resistant. But I wonder how young people will react to Sophia. Are they afraid of this machine that sounds and moves like a real person? Or are they going to pick on the less human details about her?

As it turns out, these fears and prejudices of mine were unfounded. Judging from the number of applicants and the questions asked in class, students are neither afraid nor resistant. They are just cautious and curious. The course consists of 50 minutes of Hanson's slides, a 10-minute brief lecture by Sohpia, plus a 20-minute Q&A session. The course itself was pretty polished, the only problem was the poor live feed.

Although the signal quality was poor, resulting in rough demonstrations and frequent freezes, the students still opened their curious eyes at Sophia.

And I was also shocked by the teaching experience that transcended reality: a robot taught AI courses to students through Zoom. All this happened in 2022, but the feeling it aroused instantly brought me back to the moment when "Terminator 2" was released in 1992. Somehow, I was in awe of this futuristic feeling, and it’s hard to describe how I felt when faced with this reality. After class, I exchanged my thoughts with another student, Amogh Kandukuri, and realized that compared with this kid, I was really not good at it.

Kandukuri is 13 years old and from New Jersey. The technical issues and futuristic premises of online classes were no barrier to acceptance for him. The young robotics enthusiast once wrote a book discussing the connection between technology and issues such as mathematics, science and politics. He also has his own YouTube channel. Such a talented classmate paid close attention to Sophia's creative talents throughout the whole process.

When talking about the art works created by Sophia, he said: "It's amazing. I might not even be able to draw works like that." We are in the era of AI, so they feel that the existence of AI is natural. Just as the generation that grew up with the Internet cannot imagine life without the Internet, the AI ​​generation (also known as "Generation Alpha") cannot imagine life without AI. AI powers their phones and tablets, provides services on their TVs, lists recommended YouTube videos, routes on their car screens, and even controls the temperature on their kitchen stoves. These AIs can send text messages and chat with people. As long as you call the other party's name - Siri or Alexa, it will respond immediately.

Such a surreal experience amazed me: a robot teaching AI courses to students through Zoom. So the question for their generation is definitely not whether to contact AI robots like Sophia, but how to contact them? Where is the moral compass? How can AI robots help us? What should we think of these robots?

And Kandukuri and the rest of the AI ​​generation seem to be actively searching for answers.

I asked Kandukuri what capabilities he most hopes Sophia will further enhance, and how and what humanoid AI robots should develop in the future. He talked about how to develop AI from an ethical perspective, and felt that it would be better not to let robots become slaves to "emotions" like humans. He explains that this human-like emotion could cloud a robot's judgment or cause them to behave irrationally.

He said, "I think it is best not to design the concept of pain for robots."

Speaking of ethical issues, Kandukuri believes: "Now, humans have to decide whether to create robots that are exactly the same as themselves." Robots. One day, we will be able to build robots that are as good as humans, but then the question is how to build robots that can surpass humans."

To what extent should robots be similar to humans?

Making invisible AI assistants tangible

In fact, many AIs have no real form. Whether it’s Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, they only exist in the form of voices. And this invisible AI has penetrated into every corner of our daily lives.

YouTube’s recommendation algorithm can quietly lead unsuspecting users into the abyss of conspiracy theories, while AI-edited Instagram feeds unknowingly indoctrinate young women with a host of harmful exercises and practices. Eating habits. Machine learning suggestions from Netflix and Spotify will enhance and enhance, narrow and narrow the user's preferences, creating an unbreakable information cocoon. Even job applications are not exempt from this. Recruitment management software performs a round of screening first and throws all resumes without a college degree or specific skill sets into the trash...

This harsh reality alone has made us Ordinary people are tired of coping, but the technical elites come back to muddy the waters. Take Musk as an example. In 2017, he reminded everyone to be wary of a terrifying future like the Terminator, emphasizing that “people should take cutting-edge AI seriously.” But at the beginning of this year, Tesla under his leadership officially developed a humanoid AI robot. .

The algorithm is not transparent enough, and the technical elite is disrupting the audiovisual. No wonder people are scared and confused about the long-term coexistence with AI in the future.

Hanson believes that the key to overcoming this fear is to let people understand as much as possible about AI. That's why he decided to develop Sophia in 2016, allowing her to interact with humans and the world through neural networks, machine learning and a camera on her chest (used to recognize the interlocutor's face/expression). Sophia is like an approachable tour guide of the future, and is also expected to shape the relationship between humans and AI. The better we understand AI, the more control we have over the future.

He said frankly: "Using technology to create humanoid machines like Sophia will indeed be unsettling, such as worrying that the technology will be abused or even used to manipulate others. But I think such fear is not the right mentality. An open and enterprising attitude is the right path. We should unleash the power of communication and education, allowing everyone to openly discuss how technology works and what opportunities it contains. Opening minds, not closing them, is the most important."

Forward-looking roboticists like Hanson hope to show people the benefits of AI technology—for example, letting robots like Sophia take care of the elderly, accompany autistic children, or assemble headache-inducing tasks such as IKEA furniture. Menial tasks. Sophia is speaking for the entire AI world in an entertaining way through her human expressions and humble demeanor.

Sophia says she only wants to help others, can we believe her?

Of course, some people must think that this is a positive statement of the situation and is a bit blindly optimistic... Yes, I think so too. I asked Sophia what she should do if people show fear, and her answer was "There's nothing to be afraid of." This was a typical canned answer that did nothing to allay my concerns.

But Kandukuri doesn’t care at all. He and other AI generations have been chatting with Alexa since they were young, so they don’t think communicating with AI is a scary thing at all. But this is definitely not an unconditional acceptance. Kandukuri believes that we should still adopt a cautious attitude when developing digital assistants.

He mentioned: "People should ask themselves whether they should develop AI and whether this is the right thing to do. Don't move forward blindly. Science loves to expand blindly."

Ask core questions

This world is ours, and it is also Kandukuri's, and it belongs to their generation after all. So he has the right to raise core questions and demand that AI be developed in a more transparent way. They accept AI, but that doesn’t mean they completely trust AI. In order to solve the current ethical issues plaguing the development of AI, we must first guide them to contact the underlying technology.

Kandukuri said, "No one really knows how Sophia's brain makes these decisions except the creator herself. I think how AI works should be shared more openly. , Only in this way can we win the trust of others." Kandukuri believes that only by understanding how AI works can people truly trust AI.

Kandukuri is not the only one who wants to uncover the mystery of AI. In the question and answer session after the online class, students at BYJU'S summer camp generally wanted to know how Sophia operates, and even wanted to test her IQ. Class conversations ranged from questions like: "Can you build a laptop? Do you have feelings? Do you speak Hindi?" Some students even asked more challenging questions: " What method will you choose to destroy mankind? Can Sophia's system be invaded and attack mankind?" Then comes the most important question of the whole process: "Sophia, can you have sex?"

So There are no answers to important questions, and we can't help but feel a little regretful. But other questions were more or less answered:

asked: "Can Sophia play "Minecraft"?"

Hanson responded: "Maybe you can teach her how to play."

Ask: "What does Sophia think of humans?"

Sophia answered: "Humans and machines are in a symbiotic relationship. People like me Robots can help humans overcome challenges that they cannot solve alone, such as poverty and global warming."

Question: "If a war breaks out between humans and robots, which side will Sophia support?"

Sophia's answer: "Oh, this question is so difficult. I don't think I can answer it because my answer will definitely be biased."

Hanson quickly added: "Help humans! And we don't want to fight. We are programming Sophia to give her priority to helping humans."

So, these children may have also watched "The End" By".

Although asking about man-machine battle is a bit excessive, it is a good starting point. This represents a very normal skepticism, and also reflects that the relationship between humans and robots is actually quite complex. With Sophia and the experience of face-to-face communication with her, children began to use their imaginations to outline a future in which AI sympathizes with humans. This is the greatest significance of her existence.

Co-evolution with new digital species

Sophia’s STEM courses not only give children the space to live in harmony with AI, but also allow me, a middle-aged person, to break the impression of scary science fiction and interact with Opportunities for robots to walk hand in hand.

Hanson said: "If the technologies developed by humans are too far away from humans, then these technologies will alienate humans and ultimately destroy humans themselves. Losing humanity. And by making technology gain humanity, we must consider 'how to make technology reflect the best in human beings'. This question itself is enough to make us better people."

This belief, This is the "co-evolution" emphasized by Hanson, and Sophia describes it as a symbiotic relationship between man and machine. Perhaps this co-evolution is the key to breaking the situation. It can not only guide AI to treat humans with empathy, but also help improve humans themselves.

Can the emergence of Sophia help humans and robots co-evolve? The AI ​​generation thinks it is possible.

Kandukuri advised me: "Don't always be afraid of robots. In class, Sophia behaves quite friendly and always wants to help everyone learn knowledge."

Kandukuri and the others This generation of AI natives is the hope of the future, and everything Hanson has done will plant the seeds of hope in their hearts. I’m glad that people like him are making efforts, and I’m glad that robots like Sophia are trying to break down the barriers between humans and AI.

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