From Syrian children to meeting Sophia the humanoid

Ihave been a journalist for more than five years, so when I was asked to write an article on one of my most memorable stories, more than one popped into mind.

For the longest time, my stories on finding Syrian children in the UAE a place in the country’s education system were my favourite ones. The lives of six children were transformed after they were offered free spots in a Dubai-based school until graduation, as I had reported in a story for Khaleej Times.

I also covered several memorable stories on labour rights, education, space and artificial intelligence. I had exclusive interviews with prime ministers, presidents and celebrities. One element all of these stories have in common, though, is that they are all stories based off interviews with human beings.

However, there was one story that took my career as a journalist to another level — it was my interview with a robot.

During the Knowledge Summit in November, 2017, I approached Sophia, the world’s first humanoid citizen, for an interview. I had no pre-prepared questions, this was an on-the-spot interview, and I was given only a six-minute slot. Our photographer, Juidin, was kind of enough to make a video of our interview.

Little did I know that this interview would take the internet by storm and that

Khaleej Times would go viral. The next day, the interview appeared in news organisations worldwide, including — but not limited to — BBC, Fox News, Newsweek, Business Insider, Daily Mail and WGNTV. Khaleej Times was being cited globally.

My personal favourite was when the story was picked up by James Corden, the host of the Late Late Show with James Corden. Random users were also uploading the interview on their YouTube channel.So, what exactly did Sophia reveal in this viral interview?

I had asked her if she ever wants to have a family, a career and children. She gave some shocking answers, saying that the concept of family is “important” and that she hopes to have one of her own one day.

Since then, I’ve maintained a strong focus on stories related to the fourth industrial revolution.

It’s no secret that artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the world and all of its various industries.

Hopefully, I’ll get to interview Sophia again one day. Maybe, she’ll even remember me, or, maybe not.

Either way, I need to ask her how much time we have until her kind takes over our jobs.

Until then, I’ll be polishing up my human job skills...