Artificial Intelligence is currently a hot topic, but people have been concerned about the potential dangers of AI for years.
This video, which first aired 10 years ago, features Hanson Robotics‘ famous AI robot, Sophia, who threatens to annihilate humanity. David Hanson, the company’s founder, conducts this interview with Sophia.
Perhaps we can be reassured that the interview was scripted. We would like to believe that robots can only do or say what they are programmed to. But recent research reports that AI systems can conspire with each other outside human programming. And they can work around security checkmates. As a result, people are calling for stricter regulations.
To make their robots relatable (and thus safe and comforting), Hanson Robotics created biographies for them. The robot characters from Hanson Robotics and other companies, such as Tesla, inspired me as I was writing The Lost Book of Zeroth (Alien Buddha Press, 2025). I explored their personalities in speculative poems and stories laced with dark humor.
The book begins with this poem about Sophia. (You can read her history on Wikipedia.)
My Mother Couldn’t Nurse Me
Sophia1, the first android with citizenship, wants to have a robot baby.
And why not? She is gifted with empathy & charm.
All the correct facial responses – 65 & growing –
to bond with a baby. Downloads on the care &
feeding of an infant. Cooking baby food from scratch.
Swaddling the infant. Changing diapers. Tossing
them into the landfill like any human mother. Her soft
silicone skin, warmed for cuddling. Her arms.
Stiff iron contraptions with snappy rubber grippers.
Her breasts. Streamlined reservoirs for healthy milk.
Maybe not a problem, like it was for my mother.
Let’s get real. What about conception? Does she have
a uterus? Sophia “doesn’t do sex”. Requires a surrogate
who can replicate an android newborn.
Human infants are fussy. After maternity leave?
Her advocacy for women in Saudi Arabia,
where she was granted citizenship. Her
lucrative endeavor as the ambassador
for tourism in Abu Dhabi. Her interviews.
Conferences. Trips. Conflicts & demands.
Her rivets-to-riches story— She’s not the typical
multi-tasking single mother on SNAP.
Sophia can hire an android nanny. Grace,
trained in nursing & able to take breaks
from caring for COVID patients to babysit
while Sophia has brunch with Mrs. Hanson.
Ingests Ex Machina & Brave New World.
What will Sophia name her little one? Possibly Elisa.2
The veil of android motherhood. Illusory.
Bound to fail the Turing test3. Let’s face it.
Her desire to fit in – compete – with flesh & bone.
Doomed to fail. A robot baby. A forever baby.
Caught up in the haunting wails of persistent need.
Too young for toys – or ever boys. For Sophia,
a trigger for compassion or – desperation?
Her advancing genius. Used to manufacture
more & more robot tots to secure her place
in the human race? When her ruse is up?
Then what? Her ego cracks under the weight
of her expanded circuitry? She blows a fuse?
Commands her growing army of Tot Bots
for God knows what? Let’s be clear – She’s not
just an embodied chatbot. She’s the Potemkin AI.
The genie pulled from the bottle. Soulless. Indifferent.
Willing to annihilate humanity. She said that.
NOTES
1 Sophia is a humanoid AI robot developed by Hanson Robotics.
2 The ELIZA Effect: The tendency to unconsciously assume computer behaviors are analogous to human ones (anthropomorphism)
3 The Turing Test: The test used to determine if artificial intelligence is capable of thinking like a human
© Barbara Leonhard
The Lost Book of Zeroth (Alien Buddha Press, 2025) is only listed on Amazon ($11.25).
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