Artificial Intelligence makes art, knows more than many humans and works faster than they do. But will people accept AI-controlled social robots working in the service industry or entertaining those in need of care?
What does a robot need to have to be accepted as a social partner by a human being? Does it need a face? Should the machine understand — or even show — emotions?
The psychologist, neurologist and philosopher Agnieszka Wykowska, currently researching at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, says: “We tend to humanize everything. We even see faces in car hoods. This is further reinforced whenever a robot demonstrates humanlike behavior.
In a care home for the elderly in Rendsburg, the film shows what sort of relationship forms between residents and robots. Hannes Eilers from the Kiel University of Applied Sciences is carrying out tests there with robots for health insurance companies. The robots sing with the elderly people, play games or demonstrate physio exercises. The one thing they’re not allowed to do with them is pray. The systems there function autonomously. This means they can’t access an AI server, so they abide by data protection laws.
