Mukhisa Kituyi Meets Sophia The Humanoid Robot

Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Mukhisa Kituyi on Tuesday posted a photo with the Social humanoid robot Sophia

He captioned the photos: "A pause, a selfie and encounter with Sophia, the most famous, most intelligent humanoid robot in the world."

He revealed that he would have a dialogue with the robot during the Global Investment Game Changers session at The #wif @UNCTAD World Investment Forum in Geneva later in the year.

[caption caption="Mukhisa Kituyi with Sophia"][/caption]

This elicited comments on social media led by former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga who asked: "Does she speak Kiswahili?"

"Looks more like Samantha. Eti you had a conversation with her? Jeez," one netizen stated.

[caption caption="Mukhisa Kituyi with Sophia"][/caption]

One Kenyan expressed worry over Sophia's facial expressions noting: "She looks like she's not well."

Others were more concerned about the fate of human resource in the world with the creation of the robots.

"Is the world short of human resource? If not, what is the basic objective of making these robots?" one posed

"Global transhumanism agenda bwana Kituyi, nothing to be impressed about with these intelligent robots. They are going to take over our jobs and reduce us to beggars and slaves of the elite system," another stated.

Sophia was developed by Hong Kong-based company Hanson Robotics. and activated on April 2015. She is able to display more than 50 facial expressions.

She made her first public appearance at South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in mid-March 2016 in Austin, Texas, United States.

[caption caption="Mukhisa Kituyi with Houlin Zhau and Tedros Ghebreyesus"][/caption]

In October 2017, the robot became a Saudi Arabian citizen, the first robot to receive citizenship of any country.

In November the same year, Sophia was named the United Nations Development Programme's first ever Innovation Champion, and the first non-human to be given any United Nations title.