You’d think reporters and “journalists” such as CBS/PBS host Charlie Rose would want to spend their time reporting actual news like, in-depth stories on all the bombs dropped by Wikileaks about the lies, corruption and cover-ups by Hillary Clinton. But Rose would rather spend his time interviewing a robot.
On Sunday’s 60 Minutes, Rose interviewed a robot named Sophia, talking about pickup lines with Rose and getting a chuckle from him. Ironically, Rose approaches the interview with a robot with more seriousness than some past interviews with actual humans. The interview is a two-part interview on artificial intelligence (A.I.).
During the interview, Rose asked if Sophia had been programmed; his question was answered with silence. Some robot answers made no sense, and other times producers at 60 Minutes professed shock at “her” ability to converse with Rose, “one of the great conversationalists in journalism.”
Sophia’s creator, David Hanson, believes that if A.I. technology “looks and sounds human,” then people would be “more willing to engage with it in meaningful ways.” He told Rose: “I think it’s essential that at least some robots be very human-like in appearance in order to inspire humans to relate to them the way that humans relate to each other,” Hanson said. “Then the A.I. can zero in on what it means to be human.” Hanson believes these robots could be companions for lonely people, such as the elderly.
No one made any jokes that Sophia the robot was about as programmed and robotic as another 60 Minutes favorite, Hillary Clinton.
