<p>Sophia uses <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.07791" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ChatScript</a>.</p>

<p>You can read about what ChatScript can do <a href="https://github.com/ChatScript/ChatScript/blob/master/PDFDOCUMENTATION/OVERVIEWS-AND-TUTORIALS/What-is-ChatScript.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>ChatScript keeps track of conversations with each user; can record
  where it is in a conversational flow and what facts it has learned
  about a user (you have to tell it what facts to try to learn). You can
  optionally keep logs of the conversations (either on a ChatScript
  server or locally on a freestanding device).</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-31T14:40:34.597Z
Thanks Rebecca! The link you provide talks about the [Loving AI project](http://noetic.org/blog/communications-team/loving-artificial) and I think I've just found another github repo which is quite relevant: [github.com/opencog/loving-ai](https://github.com/opencog/loving-ai). `Sophia` is mentioned several times if one does a [search](https://github.com/opencog/loving-ai/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=sophia&type=) in the source code.
tgogos
CC BY-SA 4.0
2017-10-31T14:25:07.227Z
2020-04-11T02:36:18.970Z
2020-04-11T02:36:18.970Z
Rebecca Merrett
<p>I talk about the robot from: <a href="http://www.hansonrobotics.com/robot/sophia/" rel="noreferrer">Hanson Robotics</a>, which was <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/26/saudi-arabia-robot-citizen-sophia/" rel="noreferrer">granted the right to citizenship from Saudi Arabia</a>.</p>

<p>I have found the following articles:</p>

<h1>Your new friend is a humanoid robot</h1>

<p>Source: <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/say-hello-to-your-new-friend-sophia-the-humanoid-robot/news-story/070299a8d11b7d636848f1b8dd753530" rel="noreferrer">theaustralian.com.au</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Like Amazon Echo, Google Assistant and Siri, <strong>Sophia can ask and answer questions about discrete pieces of information</strong>, such as what types of movies and songs she likes, the weather and whether robots should exterminate humans.</p>
  
  <p>But her general knowledge is behind these players and she doesn’t do maths. <strong>Her answers are mostly scripted</strong> and, it seems, from my observation, her answer are derived from algorithmically crunching the language you use.</p>
  
  <p>Sometimes answers are close to the topic of the question, but off beam. Sometimes she just changes the subject and asks you a question instead.</p>
  
  <p>She has no artificial notion of self. <strong>She can’t say where she was yesterday, whether she remembers you from before</strong>, and doesn’t seem to amass data of past interactions with you that can form the basis of an ongoing association.</p>
  
  <p>Questions such as: <em>“What have you seen in Australia?”</em>, <em>“Where were you yesterday?”</em>, <em>“Who did you meet last week?”</em> and <em>“Do you like Australia?”</em> are beyond her.</p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<h1>Why Sophia the robot is not what it seems</h1>

<p>Source: <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-sophia-the-robot-is-not-what-it-seems-20171030-gzbi3p.html" rel="noreferrer">smh.com.au</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>You can often fool this sort of software by introducing noise. That could be literal noise – machines aren't great at filtering out background noise, as anyone with a hearing aid will tell you – or it could be noise in the sense of irrelevant information or limited context. You could ask <strong>"what do you think of humans?"</strong> and then follow up with <strong>"can you tell more about it?"</strong> The second question requires the robot to define "it", remember what it said last time, and come up with something new.</p>
  
  <p>In the case of the ABC interview, <strong>the questions were sent to Sophia's team ahead of time so they were possibly pre-scripted</strong>. Just like an interview with a human celebrity!</p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<h1>Pretending to give a robot citizenship helps no one</h1>

<p>Source: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/30/16552006/robot-rights-citizenship-saudi-arabia-sophia" rel="noreferrer">theverge.com</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Sophia is essentially a cleverly built puppet designed to exploit our cultural expectations of what a robot looks and sounds like. It can hold a stilted conversation, yes, but its one-liners seem to be prewritten responses to key words. (As Piers Morgan commented during an interview with Sophia, <strong>“Obviously these are programmed answers.”</strong>)</p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p>Here are a few more references.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://qz.com/1121547/how-smart-is-the-first-robot-citizen/" rel="noreferrer">Inside the mechanical brain of the world’s first robot citizen</a></li>
<li><a href="https://buildabuddha.quora.com/Sophia-the-Uncanny-Robot-AI-Is-Not-What-You-Think" rel="noreferrer">Sophia, the Uncanny Robot AI, Is Not What You Think.</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.quora.com/How-much-of-Robot-Sophia%E2%80%99s-speech-is-likely-scripted-with-your-understanding-of-the-progress-in-NLP" rel="noreferrer">How much of Robot Sophia’s speech is likely scripted with your understanding of the progress in NLP?</a></li>
</ul>

<natural-language-processing><reference-request><robotics><robots><sophia>
Are the dialogs at Sophia's (the robot) appearings scripted?
tgogos
# Are the dialogs at Sophia's (the robot) appearings scripted?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-10-27)

I talk about the robot from: [Hanson Robotics](http://www.hansonrobotics.com/robot/sophia/), which was [granted the right to citizenship from Saudi Arabia](https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/26/saudi-arabia-robot-citizen-sophia/).

I have found the following articles:

# Your new friend is a humanoid robot

Source: [theaustralian.com.au](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/say-hello-to-your-new-friend-sophia-the-humanoid-robot/news-story/070299a8d11b7d636848f1b8dd753530)

> Like Amazon Echo, Google Assistant and Siri, **Sophia can ask and answer questions about discrete pieces of information**, such as what types of movies and songs she likes, the weather and whether robots should exterminate humans.
>
> But her general knowledge is behind these players and she doesn’t do maths. **Her answers are mostly scripted** and, it seems, from my observation, her answer are derived from algorithmically crunching the language you use.
>
> Sometimes answers are close to the topic of the question, but off beam. Sometimes she just changes the subject and asks you a question instead.
>
> She has no artificial notion of self. **She can’t say where she was yesterday, whether she remembers you from before**, and doesn’t seem to amass data of past interactions with you that can form the basis of an ongoing association.
>
> Questions such as: *“What have you seen in Australia?”*, *“Where were you yesterday?”*, *“Who did you meet last week?”* and *“Do you like Australia?”* are beyond her.

---

# Why Sophia the robot is not what it seems

Source: [smh.com.au](http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-sophia-the-robot-is-not-what-it-seems-20171030-gzbi3p.html)

> You can often fool this sort of software by introducing noise. That could be literal noise – machines aren't great at filtering out background noise, as anyone with a hearing aid will tell you – or it could be noise in the sense of irrelevant information or limited context. You could ask **"what do you think of humans?"** and then follow up with **"can you tell more about it?"** The second question requires the robot to define "it", remember what it said last time, and come up with something new.
>
> In the case of the ABC interview, **the questions were sent to Sophia's team ahead of time so they were possibly pre-scripted**. Just like an interview with a human celebrity!

---

# Pretending to give a robot citizenship helps no one

Source: [theverge.com](https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/30/16552006/robot-rights-citizenship-saudi-arabia-sophia)

> Sophia is essentially a cleverly built puppet designed to exploit our cultural expectations of what a robot looks and sounds like. It can hold a stilted conversation, yes, but its one-liners seem to be prewritten responses to key words. (As Piers Morgan commented during an interview with Sophia, **“Obviously these are programmed answers.”**)

---

Here are a few more references.

* [Inside the mechanical brain of the world’s first robot citizen](https://qz.com/1121547/how-smart-is-the-first-robot-citizen/)
* [Sophia, the Uncanny Robot AI, Is Not What You Think.](https://buildabuddha.quora.com/Sophia-the-Uncanny-Robot-AI-Is-Not-What-You-Think)
* [How much of Robot Sophia’s speech is likely scripted with your understanding of the progress in NLP?](https://www.quora.com/How-much-of-Robot-Sophia%E2%80%99s-speech-is-likely-scripted-with-your-understanding-of-the-progress-in-NLP)

**Tags:** natural-language-processing, reference-request, robotics, robots, sophia


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2017-10-31. Score: 13 | Accepted answer

Sophia uses [ChatScript](https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.07791).

You can read about what ChatScript can do [here](https://github.com/ChatScript/ChatScript/blob/master/PDFDOCUMENTATION/OVERVIEWS-AND-TUTORIALS/What-is-ChatScript.pdf).

> ChatScript keeps track of conversations with each user; can record
> where it is in a conversational flow and what facts it has learned
> about a user (you have to tell it what facts to try to learn). You can
> optionally keep logs of the conversations (either on a ChatScript
> server or locally on a freestanding device).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks Rebecca! The link you provide talks about the [Loving AI project](http://noetic.org/blog/communications-team/loving-artificial) and I think I've just found another github repo which is quite relevant: [github.com/opencog/loving-ai](https://github.com/opencog/loving-ai). `Sophia` is mentioned several times if one does a [search](https://github.com/opencog/loving-ai/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=sophia&type=) in the source code.  

---

