Saudi humanoid robot should not talk about politics and sex, says creator – 03/24/2024 – Tech

The objective of Sara, the first humanoid robot designed and manufactured in Saudi Arabia, is to be friendly, not to get into controversial subjects, according to the CEO of the company that created her.

“She must be friendly, not talk about politics, not talk about sex because we are in Saudi Arabia. She must not get into these topics,” said Elie Metri, CEO of QSS AI & Robots, a company based in Riyadh, to the Business Insider website.

According to the executive, the robot knows that it is a 25-year-old woman who measures 1.62 meters and wears the abaya tunic, traditional Saudi clothing.

Sara also speaks two languages, Arabic and English. Metri told Business Insider that Sara uses a company-developed AI model designed to recognize and generate text and speech. “We don’t rely on third-party libraries, not even ChatGPT,” she said.

Saudi Arabia’s legal system is based on Sharia, Islamic law, although there have been attempts to modernize Saudi society in recent years. It was only in 2018 that women in the country gained permission to drive alone. In 2022, the country sentenced a student to 34 years in prison for maintaining a Twitter account and following and sharing posts by dissidents and activists.

The CEO said Sara gained attention after several appearances at technology exhibitions, highlighting Saudi Arabia’s advancements in robotics and AI.

Earlier this month, an incident involving another of the company’s humanoid robots, Muhammad, went viral after he appeared in a video groping a reporter during a recording.

Metri said it did not appear that Muhammad inappropriately touched the reporter. “While humans are talking, we move our hands, we are not dummies,” she said. “The same goes for a robot.”

“Sexual harassment is totally different than a robot hand touching a woman’s jacket.”

The executive, however, said he is not worried about the incident. “The strange thing is that throughout the Middle East, even in Saudi Arabia, no one saw it as a bad thing because they know it’s a robot,” he said.