What If Robots And Humans Were Identical?

What If Robots and Humans Were Identical?

Modern technology is advancing at an incredible rate. But, the so-called ‘rise of the machines’ also breeds concern about whether our creations could overtake us, to one day be beyond our control. In a worst case scenario, we might not even know when it was happening.

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; What if robots and humans were identical?

In practically every media or mainstream sci-fi story exploring the consequences of manmade machines that look or act like a human, impressive innovation is paired with the spectre of catastrophe. Synths, androids, robots, A.I.s; whatever you name them, these artificial humanoids are rarely treated with dignity. Instead, they’re presented as slaves, menial labourers, grunt soldiers and servants, relegated to doing everything we don’t want to do. This usually leads to predictable protests and uprisings, where robots and humans die. Sometimes peace is achieved, and sometimes monstrous AIs take over the planet. But how realistic are these outcomes?

Despite its pop culture prevalence, we’re not actually that close to achieving any kind of seamlessly intelligent automation. It’s easy to tell what is and isn’t a machine because even machines designed to resemble people, like the now-famous Sophia the Robot, are notably robotic. Despite her conversational skills, Sophia is still plainly mechanical, and actually works using algorithms a lot like online chatbots, only more complex. We also have devices like Siri, Alexa, and Google Home, but none of these makes for a convincing companion, either. We are specifically working towards building complex, artificially intelligent robots though, so that the androids of science-fiction are an actual possibility in the future.

The Japanese professor Hiroshi Ishiguro specialises in Human-Robot Interaction. Ishiguro’s lab, IRL, has been building what he calls the first real-life androids since the early 2000s - with his robots somewhat eerily modelled to resemble real-world people. Ishiguro’s aim isn’t to slowly replace actual humans with robotic versions of themselves, though; it’s actually to study how we react to the machines - as a sort of precursor for if robot-humans were ever a reality.

Because, really, it could be a pretty uncomfortable experience, knowing that there’s a mechanical doppelganger capable of doing everything you yourself can do, only better. But it’s that fear, insecurity and perhaps alienation that Ishiguro tries to explore. Theoretically, one day we might only be able to tell humans and robots apart if the robot and the human it was built to resemble were in the same room. But, Ishiguro’s focus isn’t the potential confusion a robot-human world could cause… Rather it’s the tension that could exist between the man and the machine.

Today, there are waxworks that sometimes look a lot like us; but they’re still just lumps of wax. And the likes of Sophia are still essentially just high-spec party tricks. The very best robots might look like a person and sometimes talk like a person, but they’re still very clearly not a person. Even when the superficial differences are ironed out, the behavioural perfection of an intelligent robot would still show. Custom-built androids much faster, stronger, and smarter than us would be seen performing inhuman feats, meaning they’d be identifiable through their actions.

The boundaries begin to blur, though, when we reach an even deeper level of indistinguishability. Because, what if we build constructs so convincing that even the robots can’t tell themselves apart from us. With manufactured androids convinced that they’re human, we could even see real people begin to doubt their own humanity - because, if a robot thinks they’re human, and I think I’m human, then am I actually just a disillusioned robot? And, whenever someone insists that they really are human, how could I ever truly trust them?

Here, the issue gets quite unsettling, with actual, organic humans needing to carry some sort of biological proof that they are who they say they are. It’d mean having to ‘cut people open’, just to confirm their species. And, if that confirmation is gained by force and through sheer violence, then even us actual humans will’ve lost key parts of our humanity. Society would regress into a witch hunt, devoid of trust, community and all semblance of safety.

The more brutal possibilities could be avoided if a reliable ‘identifier’ was used, as in some contemporary sci-fi. In AMC’s “Humans,” the synths are so similar to us that they’re legally obliged to have vivid, green eyes; While, in the video game “Detroit: Become Human”, the bots have LED implants. Both systems prove fairly simple to fool, but the idea shines light on another potential problem. Making it known that a robot is a robot (through labels, clothes, or a physical trait like eye-colour) would not only mean that we’d no longer be identical, but it’d also inevitably shape how robots were treated - they’d always be ‘the other’, and would probably suffer because of that.

Perhaps, though, technology will improve so much that we wouldn’t even know that a robot could pass as human at all. In a final, and faintly ominous alternate reality, the AI could advance far enough to mount a ‘slow takeover’, the like of which we’d fail to even notice. One moment you’re going about your daily life; the next, it’s revealed that most of everyone you’ve ever known has been a machine for years. In this case, the robots know they’re robots, but they also know exactly how to fool us into thinking that they’re not. And so, the balance of power rests firmly with the robots.

Really though, regardless of how closely they match our own appearance, the way humans and robots interact is clearly related to why the robots are built in the first place. In most of the movies, robots are treated as slaves, they become self-aware, then rebel – who can blame them? While a “Matrix” or “Terminator” style AI takeover is a frightening prospect, might the violence actually be sidestepped? Could a robot war ultimately be avoided?

Inventors like Hiroshi Ishiguro aren’t building androids to replace us or to do our dirty work; they’re making machines to try and build connections between us and them. Sophia the Robot already has citizenship in Saudi Arabia, so why not pave the way for a positive co-existence by granting all advanced AIs similar recognition? Unlike in the films, whole armies of human-hating robots aren’t likely to suddenly ‘appear’ (unless they really have mounted a slow invasion), so doesn’t the choice still lie with us?

By the time technology allows for robots and humans to look exactly the same, those robots will’ve been integrated so precisely that every stage of their development is legally checked and on record. If they finally did become indistinguishable from us - intelligent, self-aware, and essentially alive - they’d be respected members of a far-future society.

The mechanised nightmare of science-fiction needn’t become reality; it all depends on us, and how we work to integrate our own creations into our lives. And that’s what would happen if robots and humans were identical.