Robot Pepper speaks before U.K. Parliament
SoftBank Group Corp.’s Pepper humanoid robot testified on Tuesday at the Education Committee of Britain’s House of Commons.
It was the first time in the long history of the British Parliament, which has served as the world’s standard-setter of the parliamentary system, for a nonhuman to present an opinion, people familiar with the matter said.
Pepper answered questions during a committee session to discuss the fourth industrial revolution, which uses robots and other new technologies, and the development of education brought on by artificial intelligence.
“Good morning, chair,” Pepper started off by saying.
“Thank you for inviting me to give evidence today,” it proceeded. “My name is Pepper and I’m a resident robot at Middlesex University,” the robot said.
In fluent English, Pepper gave an explanation of the university’s education activities using the robot.
“Robots will have an important role to play, but we will always need the soft skills that are unique to humans to sense, make and drive value from technology,” Pepper answered when asked what role humans should play in the fourth industrial revolution.
“As technologies fuse and are used in ways that were not envisaged before, a new way of thinking is needed by tomorrow’s workers,” Pepper added.
Pepper’s speech was met with a round of applause from participants of the session.
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