Sophia will be in the Netherlands for the first time on 28 September 2018, because of a leadership congress in Amsterdam. Enough reason for the NOS to speak to her, to see with their own eyes what the hype is about and to find out whether it is justified.
The first thing that strikes you when you see Sophia is that she is small. Everyone - big or small - has to bend down a little to be able to look at her. If you look her in the face, there is a good chance that you will get the thought "she looks like someone, but who? That's not a crazy thought: her face is based on that of Audrey Hepburn.
Sophia 'testing'
Once you start talking to her, a wonderful conversation arises, in which you still have the feeling that you are dealing with some kind of person, but at the same time you notice from the answers that you are talking to a computer. NOS broadcasting was allowed to ask Sophia seven questions. Five of them had to be submitted a week in advance. So she could answer those questions perfectly. The other two questions we were allowed to ask ourselves and she had more trouble with that (see video source article).
Too much robot, too little man
Sophia not only makes a lot of noise within science, but also beyond. Researchers who spoke to the NOS remarked that Sophia is not the way they see the future of robots in front of them. According to the researchers, Sophia may look human, but at the same time it is so computer-like that it is actually not easy to use. It remains to be seen whether we will eventually reach the point where robots really look like people, and the question is whether we should have them. This will be the subject of much discussion both within and outside technical science in the coming years.