ROBOT GODDESS
Dubbed "robot goddess," Jia Jia has a beautiful face, long flowing locks and rosy red cheeks, looking very much like a real woman.
The human-like robot from China is designed with natural eye movement and speech, which is in synchronization with its lip movement.
The life-like robot was first trotted out in 2016 by Chen and his research and development team at the USTC, which also developed the model service robot "Kejia."
According to Chen, it took the team three years to develop on the basis of research this new-generation interactive robot, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and move its body.
The AI robot is programmed to learn skills, recognize human faces and interaction and is equipped with a cloud-based system for memory storage.
She was able to accurately answer a query about the day's weather, hold basic conversations and recognize the gender of her questioners.
The interview on Jia Jia, initiated and live streamed by Xinhua, could have some symbolic significance for the future news-gathering and interview, said Jin Jianbin, a professor with the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University.
Though rapid advancements have been made in artificial intelligence over recent years, Chen and Jin believe, AI robots could not replace human journalists in the short term as they still lack the ability of planning and creativity.
However, both of the experts saw a bright future for AI development.
Just as Kelly has said, as for AI development, "we are at the beginning of the beginning -- the first hour of day one. The greatest products of the next 25 years have not been invented yet."
