Sophia the robot, Saudi citizen, is leading other countries' AI developments

Sophia

In 2017, Saudi Arabia granted citizenship to a robot named Sophia. Despite arguments that neither human society nor technology is ready yet for citizen robots, Sophia inspired Malta to go a step further and try to create a citizenship test for robots.

As recognised by the head of the Maltese AI task force, the grant of citizenship would give the robots access to EU citizenship. Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Schembri has stated that this is part of Malta’s goal of positioning itself as a ‘Blockchain island’ and a frontrunner in the field of AI.

Check out Sophia the robot discuss her citizenship status with the Investment Migration Insider:

Author: Dr. Olivier Wonk