Video surfaces of Saudi Arabia’s first male robot ‘Muhammad’ inappropriately touching the female reporter at Deep Fest in Riyadh on March 4, have started controversies and raised debates about safety and responsibility. Netizens on Social media expressed negative reactions majorly to this issue questioning the women’s safety around male robots now.
A video from the recent technology festival, DeepFest technology festival, DeepFest in Riyadh, is sparking debates and raising concerns about the kind of robot made in the name of artificial intelligence.
Saudi Arabia’s first male humanoid robot ‘Muhammad’ clip of around 7-second video has gone viral where reporter Rawya Kassem, is seen taking interviewing of the robot who extends his hand towards the reporter’s back inappropriately touching her. Additionally the video also captures reporter’s brief moment of surprise as she raised her hand.
#WATCH đź”´ The initial Saudi robot 'Android Muhammad' harassed the TV presenter of Al Arabiya channel during a video presentation.
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— Voice of Europe 🌍 (@V_of_Europe) March 6, 2024
Saudi’s QSS System responds
The robot’s inappropriate gestures and actions have sparked debates. QSS systems, the developers of Muhammad, claims in defense that the robot operates autonomously. The company defend itself saying that the robot’s behavior was within the parameters of a normal person’s behavior but will surely take steps to prevent people from getting too close during demonstrations.
“We have already conducted a thorough review of the footage and the circumstances surrounding the incident and there was no deviations from the expected behavior of Muhammad, however, we will take additional measures to prevent anyone getting close to the robot within its areas of movement,” said QSS.
The video surfaced in no time across every possible social media platforms including X (formerly known as twitter), Instagram, Facebook, etc. Netizens on Social media expressed mixed reactions.
Few criticized Muhammad’s actions while others defended it, suggesting a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of social cues. The footage got over 8 lakh views on social media, stirred controversial debates as the viewers accused of the male robot of “harassing” the female during a live interview. With certain remarks netzines wrote, “Codded to be a creep”, “Womaniser robot” and a “Pervert robot”.
There’s even a speculation that the robot might have been attempting to extend his hand to handshake or might be telling the reporter keep a distance because how would the robot know that the reporter was a woman or man? and that the reporter’s proximity caused the awkward contact.
Organizers of DeepFest have been stressing on the importance of keeping a safe distance from robots during demonstrations to avoid these kinds of awkward issues, highlighting their commitment to attendee safety.
Muhammad: Sara’s counterpart
The robot Muhammad is the male counterpart to Sara. As Muhammad says in his introduction at the event,” I am Muhammad, the first Saudi robot in the form of a humanoid man. It was manufactured and developed here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a national project to demonstrate our achievements in the field of artificial intelligence”.
QSS Systems, the robot can carry out tasks that require high precision to do or work in conditions that may pose a danger to humans.
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