Robots in society

TOPIO, a humanoid robot, playedping pong at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition (IREX) 2009.^[77][78]

Roughly half of all the robots in the world are in Asia, 32% in Europe, and 16% in North America, 1% in Australasia and 1% in Africa.^[79]40% of all the robots in the world are in Japan,^[80] making Japan the country with the highest number of robots.

Autonomy and ethical questions

Main articles: Roboethics and Ethics of artificial intelligence

An android, or robot designed to resemble a human, can appear comforting to some people and disturbing to others^[81]

As robots have become more advanced and sophisticated, experts and academics have increasingly explored the questions of what ethics might govern robots' behavior,^[82] and whether robots might be able to claim any kind of social, cultural, ethical or legal rights.^[83]One scientific team has said that it is possible that a robot brain will exist by 2019.^[84] Others predict robot intelligence breakthroughs by 2050.^[85] Recent advances have made robotic behavior more sophisticated.^[86] The social impact of intelligent robots is subject of a 2010 documentary film called Plug & Pray.^[87]

Vernor Vinge has suggested that a moment may come when computers and robots are smarter than humans. He calls this "the Singularity".^[88] He suggests that it may be somewhat or possibly very dangerous for humans.^[89] This is discussed by a philosophy calledSingularitarianism.

In 2009, experts attended a conference hosted by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) to discuss whether computers and robots might be able to acquire any autonomy, and how much these abilities might pose a threat or hazard. They noted that some robots have acquired various forms of semi-autonomy, including being able to find power sources on their own and being able to independently choose targets to attack with weapons. They also noted that some computer viruses can evade elimination and have achieved "cockroach intelligence." They noted that self-awareness as depicted in science-fiction is probably unlikely, but that there were other potential hazards and pitfalls.^[88] Various media sources and scientific groups have noted separate trends in differing areas which might together result in greater robotic functionalities and autonomy, and which pose some inherent concerns.^[90][91][92] In 2015, the Nao alderen robots were shown to have a capability for a degree of self-awareness. Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute AI and Reasoning Lab in New York conducted an experiment where a robot became aware of itself, and corrected its answer to a question once it had realised this.^[93]