WATCH: Syed Saddiq Debates with Sophia The Robot

By Karissa Lund • 18 Jul 2019 in News

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Today at the Beyond Paradigm Summit 2019, Youth & Sports Minister and champion debater, Syed Saddiq got to test his debating skills with the famous (or infamous, depends on how you see it) Sophia The Robot.

The internet sensation is a social humanoid robot built by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics. She is known for being human-like and good in holding conversations.

Rocking her signature bald-look and a modern baju kurung, Sophia and Syed Saddiq participated in a debate called, ‘Battle of The Wits’. They discussed some topics like the future of artificial intelligence, human emotions getting in the way of innovation, and robots replacing humans in the workforce.

Shout out to humanity because, in the end, Saddiq was declared the winner of the debate!

One specific question of interest was posed when Saddiq asked if robots are taking over the world. Sophia replied by saying that “the future is unpredictable”. Umm.. should we be scared?

Besides hashing it out with Saddiq yesterday, Sophia met our Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir and left him speechless–a rare occasion for the quick-witted 94-year old.

According to The Star, Sophia broke the ice by congratulating Tun for his re-election as PM and started to draw a portrait of him as a gift.

When asked by Tun on how she is different from other robots, Sophia cheekily said, “For starters, most other robots don’t get to hang out with the Prime Minister of Malaysia”.

Check out a glimpse of the debate below:

YB @SyedSaddiq asked the most important question to Sophia, “Will robots take over the world?” #BPS2019 #madepossible by #TMONE pic.twitter.com/C6JmoyUImj

— TM ONE (@TM_ONE) July 18, 2019