>> Muhammad misbehaved with a female reporter/Collage by Radio MAXIMUM
The presentation of a “male” humanoid robot by a Saudi robotics company did not go as planned after he inappropriately touched a female reporter.
Saudi robotics company QSS debuted the humanoid robot Muhammad at the DeepFest festival in Riyadh last week. The robot, dressed in traditional Saudi clothing, spoke Arabic and English, Business Insider reports.
In a DeepFest post on X, Muhammad was described as “the first humanoid Saudi robot,” as well as a national project designed to highlight Saudi Arabia's achievements in the field of artificial intelligence.
During the presentation, Al Arabiya reporter Raviya Kassem stood in front of Muhammad and addressed the audience. A viral video of the incident showed the robot reaching forward to touch her back.
In the clip, Kassem can be seen responding with a stern look and then raising a palm at Muhammad before continuing the conversation. Social media users accused the robot of inappropriately touching a female reporter.
Muhammad the robot reached out to a female reporter: watch the video
Saudi Arabia unveils its man shaped AI robot Mohammad, reacts to reporter in its first appearance pic.twitter.com/1ktlUlGBs1
— Megh Updates ™ (@MeghUpdates) March 6, 2024
QSS Company, which did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment, told Metro that the robot was “fully autonomous” and operated “independently, without direct human control.”
The company said, that its employees “informed everyone present in advance, including journalists, about the need to keep a safe distance from the robot during its demonstration.”
According to Metro, QSS added that it reviewed video footage and the circumstances of the incident, and found that there were “no deviations from expected behavior” by Muhammad.
The company said it would take “additional measures” to ensure that no one could “approach the robot within its range of motion “. Last November, Business Insider reported that humanoid robots could be one of the next big things to emerge from the artificial intelligence boom.