For two days, the World Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Geneva places great emphasis on the use of robots for the common good, to dispel the concerns often caused by AI.
Nadine speaks half a dozen languages. She has also “worked with the elderly in Singapore for six months“, says Nadia Thalmann, professor of computer science at the University of Geneva, and creator of Nadine, a “French-speaking” humanoid, presented in the aisles of the summit on artificial intelligence organized by the UN on Thursday July 6 and Friday July 7. in Geneva.
>> How is artificial intelligence revolutionizing medicine?
“They lack people for interactioncontinues Nadia Thalmann, so she was able to get them to play Bingo, she was able to talk to people when they wanted to, she also worked in an insurance company, receiving people… Basically, when people are missing, when work is boring, robots like Nadine can act“.
“All technologies represent a threat and an opportunity”
Right next to Nadine, we find Colossus, much less pleasant but just as useful since “it is a firefighter robot that was deployed during the Notre-Dame fire“, specifies Cyrille Kabbara, of the company Sharks Robotics. “Inside the cathedral, the robot’s objective was to gather intelligence, watch where the hottest walls were and protect the nave. So it’s really the eyes and ears of firefighters, where firefighters can’t go.“
“It’s a bit like a big Lego that weighs 500 kilos. With it, you will be able to put out a fire, evacuate the wounded, transport equipment…”
Cyrille Kabbara, Sharks Roboticsat franceinfo
Among the other robots presented are a dog robot capable of inspecting a gas pipeline leak, another humanoid who paints portraits, another who carries heavy loads in the middle of a compact crowd. The idea here is not to say that AI is never a problem, but we should not deprive ourselves of it on the pretext that there is a risk, according to Fred Warner of the International Telecommunications Union : “All technologies represent a threat and an opportunity at the same time. Take the car for example… You can use it to take your family to Disneyland or to run over pedestrians.”
“The problem isn’t the technology, it’s what you do with it.”
Fred Warner, ITUat franceinfo
About fifty intelligent robots are presented to the public during these two days of summit. Many will even be present at a press conference to answer journalists’ questions.