Mixed reviews on social media as Saudi Arabia grants Sophia the robot citizenship

Saudi Arabia has become the first country to grant robots citizenship. And Sophia the humanoid robot is the first humanoid robot to get the citizenship. Remember this was the same robot that had a recent interaction with UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed at a UN event themed ‘The future of everything – sustainable development in the age of rapid technological change.’

This happened at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on 25 October where she was such a big hit that she was immediately given Saudi citizenship in front of hundreds of delegates.

“I am very honoured and proud for this unique distinction,” she said. “This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with a citizenship.”

As epic as this event was, it was greeted with mixed reviews. Some people started asking why a humanoid robot seemed to have more rights than women in the country. Sophia addressed the audience in English without the customary headscarf and abaya, a traditional cloak which Saudi women are obliged to wear in public. Some others were gobsmacked about the ease and speed in which she had been granted citizenship

According to BBC, Saudi users hailed the development using the Arabic hashtag #Robot_with_Saudi_nationality nearly 30,000 times in the first 24 hours since the announcement.

But others took a more sarcastic tone. The Arabic hashtag #Sophia_calls_for_dropping_guardianship was also circulating, and has been used nearly 10,000 times to date.

Here are some of the other comments on social media (note: Some are in Arabic, so you need to translate);

https://twitter.com/moonshiner99/status/923292009250504704

https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/923336097282904065

A humanoid robot called Sophia got Saudi citizenship, while millions linger stateless. What a time to be alive. #KSA https://t.co/JVbQWIppyW

— Kareem Chehayeb | كريم شهيب (@chehayebk) October 25, 2017

#صوفيا_تطالب_باسقاط_الولايه شكل صوفيا بعد فترة pic.twitter.com/lX8a9V84NK

— أوديلا (@iurriiu) October 26, 2017

Translated this means “How Sophia will look after a while”

Sophia is an artificial intelligence created by roboticist David Hanson of Hanson Robotics