To coincide with new series of Humans, actress Gemma Chan met experts from around the world who specialise in artificial intelligence to find out more about the possibilities of building human robot.
How to Build a Human, a Channel 4 documentary, sees Gemma (who plays an android known as Mia in the sci-fi drama) work with scientists and engineers in an experiment to create a robotic version of herself.
Pretending to be a robot for a TV series is one thing, but how would Gemma feel about coming face-to-face with a robot that looks and talks exactly like her?
Unsurprisingly, she was spooked out (in a nice way) – as were we:
OH MY GOD #HowToBuildAHuman WHEN THE ROBOT MOVED I JUMPED SO MUCH I'M CRYING
— 🎃🌱 (@SJHMX) October 29, 2016
Watching #HowToBuildAHuman with @Gemma_Chan1 Gripping and worrying... @Channel4
— David (@DavidBrashaw) October 29, 2016
#HowToBuildAHuman is soooo creepy
— Tasnim🍂 (@oheyitstaz) October 29, 2016
Watching #HowToBuildAHuman. Cant work out whether to be amazed or start building my own EMP weapon 😮😳
— Jack Yardley (@yarders1991) October 29, 2016
OMG ! Robot @Gemma_Chan1 is off the scale #HowToBuildAHuman
— Tim A Roberts (@Tim_A_Roberts) October 29, 2016
To test “robot Gemma”, the team arranged one-to-one interviews with unsuspecting journalists through Skype.
The AI bot confused her interviewers at first but soon she grasped the nuances of human conversation and began to answer questions from reporters.
And some journalists who interviewed “robot Gemma”, were at least for a few seconds, convinced they were speaking to a real person.
Scientists believe AI robots could become a reality in the future – a thought that has many people freaked out:
This show on How to Build a Human is mind spinning. It's crazy and slightly scary to think this could be the norm one day #HowToBuildAHuman
— cesca eddershaw (@cescaeddershaw) October 29, 2016
That was thought-provoking stuff. As a journalist, the thought of a robot capable of doing my job is a bit scary... #HowToBuildAHuman
— Chris Haydon (@Haydonsmovies) October 29, 2016
Quite scary def raised issue of needed more debate on this worry more terminator! #HowToBuildAHuman
— Rosie (@rosieshaw44) October 29, 2016
#HowToBuildAHuman pretty scary summary of where we are ... not just the robot side but with AI. It's already in use more than you realise
— Andy H (@AH_99) October 29, 2016
But the programme certainly made an interesting watch:
The programme #HowToBuildAHuman on #channel4 is so fascinating it's incredible what we can do with technology nowadays.
— Eilish Gleeson (@eilishgleeson2) October 29, 2016
Watching #HowToBuildAHuman on @Channel4. Interesting stuff. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #machinelearning
— Paul Roberts (@retroroberts) October 29, 2016
