AI robot appears to grope female reporter during live interview in Saudi Arabia: ‘Coded to be a creep!’
NY Post
A “fully autonomous” AI robot has raised eyebrows after appearing to grope a reporter during an interview at a technology festival in Saudi Arabia.
Journalist Rawya Kassem was speaking in front of the robot, named Mohammad, when the machine seemed to move to touch her behind, a video circulating on social media shows.
Kassem, visibly startled, quickly moved away from the robot, but not before holding up her hand and motioning it to stop. She then continued on with her presentation at DeepFest, an AI event taking place in Riyadh.
Robotics firm QSS, who developed Mohammad, told Metro UK the robot is “fully autonomous” and operates “independently without direct human control.”
“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 Mohammad, however, we will take additional measures to prevent anyone getting close to the Robot within its areas of movement,” QSS said, according to Metro UK.
Mohammad was designed to help perform tasks in hazardous conditions and help improve safety for humans, according to Metro UK, causing some to believe the robot was simply asking Kassem to step forward.
