On March 10th, a Saudi-made male robot allegedly harassing a female journalist has sparked significant controversy, raising questions among netizens about the ethics of artificial intelligence.
The robot, named "Mohammed," is the first bilingual male robot manufactured in Saudi Arabia. During its debut at an event in Riyadh, it unexpectedly reached out and touched the buttocks of a female journalist.
The engineering team behind the robot responded, attributing the action to a technical malfunction and publicly apologizing to the journalist. They also stated that they would rectify the programming errors in the future.
In response, Zhou Hongyi, the founder and chairman of 360 Group, expressed three possibilities based on video analysis.
The first possibility is that the robot's hand mechanically lifted, coincidentally touching the female journalist who happened to be standing there.
The second possibility is that the robot was remotely controlled. While robots have great potential, their capabilities should not be overestimated.
The third possibility is that it might have been a human impersonating the robot.
All three possibilities exist, but regardless, this incident is unlikely a result of the robot's intelligence. Upon careful analysis, it appears to be an accidental occurrence, likely orchestrated and hyped up to exploit people's ignorance and fantasies about artificial intelligence.
