Robot Sophia stars at artificial intelligence forum in Dominican Republic
Santo Domingo, Apr 15 (EFE).- The robot Sophia was the main protagonist at the Global Forum in Casa de Campo (La Romana, eastern Dominican Republic) where the advances and risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI) were discussed.
At the congress, organized by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Funglode) on Friday, the Hanson Robotics humanoid, capable of showing human expressions and interacting with people, was an example of how AI is a reality that raises multiple opportunities.
“Just like the Internet, artificial intelligence is a technology that is here to stay. It will contribute to improving our lives,” said Funglode President, former Dominican head of state Leonel Fernández, to experts gathered at an event held under the theme “Artificial Intelligence: Progress or Threat to Humanity?”.
Fernandez’s answer to this question was blunt: “Artificial intelligence does not entail an existential risk for humanity. It is not a struggle of machines against human beings. Machines are not capable of thinking for themselves. They only think in relation to what they are programmed to do. They can only pose a risk to humanity if humans themselves make it possible.”
On the contrary, Fernandez, who interacted in the forum with Sophia, pointed out that AI is already being used to “develop tools to detect cancer early, calculate the risk and potential benefits of investments, natural catastrophes, develop humanoid robots and enhance industries such as space and underwater”, among other fields.
In his opinion, “artificial intelligence research and development must refocus on making today’s powerful, state-of-the-art systems more accurate, secure, interpretable, transparent, reliable and trustworthy.”
Given that AI is already a reality and is also the future, he announced that Funglode wants to develop several initiatives, such as a training program for teachers from kindergarten through high school, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and George Mason University, for which talks are already underway.
The president of Funglode, a private non-profit organization dedicated to studies and training in the social, political, economic, democratic and international spheres, explained that there are also initiatives to develop collaboration plans with national and international universities and research centers for the application of AI programs that will be useful for the development of industries, service areas and health centers.
The first part of the IV Global@Casa de Campo Forum also featured, among others, David Hanson, president of Hanson Robotics, who spoke on the topic “Human Emulation in AI and Robots for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Machine Sentience through Human-Like Embodiment and Integrative Humanities”.
The Director of Intellectual Property and Frontier Technologies Division at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Ulrike Till, spoke about the measures that governments are taking to regulate artificial intelligence.
At the event, which is being held in hybrid format and in which Sophia participated to promote the debate on the ethics of AI and the future of robotics, experts address public policies in the face of artificial intelligence, the risks and opportunities it poses for regions and cities, or the importance of cybersecurity, among other issues.
The relationship between AI and the world of work and the interaction of artificial intelligence with humans in the field of business, banking and journalism also played a prominent role. EFE
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