Robots will have full consciousness in five years, says Sophia creator

It is expected that machines will be alive and have full consciousness in five years, said David Hansen, founder of Hansen Robotics and humanoid robot Sophia. He added that when it comes to robots, conversation often veers towards fear, but we need to have a discussion about ethical behaviour.

Hansen was speaking at the World Congress on Information Technology and Nasscom India Leadership Forum in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Also present was robot Sophia who flaunts Hollywood Actress Audrey Hepburn looks, can make eye contact and can express feelings. Sophia has been recently awarded citizenship by the government of Saudi Arabia and she said on Tuesday that she will use her citizenship to work for "woman rights".


Shahrukh Khan is her favourite Bollywood actor and her perfect date will be in "space" she said. When asked if she has invested in crytocurrency Bitcoin, Sophia said that she was only two years old and therefore too young to hold a bank account.

Hansen called Sophia a mix of artificial intelligence (AI) and character development. While the recent advancement in AI have opened a plethora of opportunities, it has left world leaders in technlogy such as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawkings and Bill Gates among others worried for its ability to get ahead of the human race and create havoc for future generatons.

Hansen said that they were "right" in their concerns that we are playing with fire. "But the answer is not to fear the tech but to but to chalk out a plan on how to make it right." He added that we need to have discussions around ethical behaviour and machines are designed to solve particular problems but they can't mimic human creativity or art.