Artificial intelligence (AI) is believed to change the way humans live on this planet. Barr and Feigenbaum (1981) define AI as: “Artificial Intelligence is the part of computer science concerned with designing intelligent computer systems, that is, systems that exhibit the characteristics we associate with intelligence in human behaviour – understanding language, learning, reasoning, solving problems and so on”. A more basic definition of AI is given by Minsky (1968) as “Artifical intelligence is the science of making machines do things that would require intelligence if done by men”

By 2020 the storage capacity (memory) and computational speed (processing) of computers will match that of humans in all aspects and this will start an era of conscious machines (Kurzweil, 1999). Turing (1950) provided a test to measure when machines can be said to have progressed to a stage of human capability – This was when humans could communicate with machines without telling a difference if it was a machine or a human. Turing triage test (Sparrow, 2004) gives a moral test whereby a machine could be proclaimed as morally conscious which could make a decision regarding when for example one of the two patients could be saved and one of the patients is replaced by a conscious machine. Thus AI with all its possibilities also brings a moral dilemma and a challenge which is much more than just technological. In addition, AI will affect the way we live on this planet and the social dynamics.

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Research in AI is a hot topic today. However, it has many facets and areas which bring their own challenges both technologically and ethically. These challenges are different according to the form (or no form) in which AI is manifested. According to Sparrow (2004) the moral equivalence of a machine to a human cannot be established unless the machines has a form resembling humans. Lemaignan et al (2017) describes the application of human with robots having Artificial Intelligence built in them. This requires cognition of social aspects and multi-modal processing of multiple inputs as witnessed in human to human interactions. The communication and reciprocation between humans is complex which entails visual signal processing, understanding symbols and gestures, mental real time processing, planning and coordinating, reactive control and recognition of patterns. Lemaignan et al (2017) selected communication through language, contextual meaning of words/phrases and no verbal communication through the eyes i.e social gaze. To implement these objectives Lemaignan et al (2017) had to design the robot to interpret belief symbols, keep and update state of the world around it, keep and iterate plans and execute and check human partners actions in a manner independent of the event. The authors implemented the diverse range of software required to achieve these goals by mimicking the first order semantics of human beings.

Robots can be divided into three distinct categories – Those used to perform tasks in a controlled environment inside, ones to be used in harsh and unpredictable environments outside and humanoid or anthropomorphic robots. Robots designed to work outside have to have the structure and flexibility to move in different types of terrain and thus need AI along with the use of specialised actuators to allow it to move in uncertain and changing environment. Cheetah 3 (Bledt et al., 2018) is one of the most advanced quadruped robots of this category. The robots that require the most extensive use of AI are however humanoid robots. Some examples of humanoid robots built are Honda’s ASIMO (Sakagami et al, 2002), WABOT 2(Kato et al, 1974), Saya (Kobayashi, 2003), HUBO 2 (Oh, 2006) and Hanson Robotocs PKD Android (Hanson, 2006). The obsession with these anthropomorphic robots continues with new and updated models coming up like Kwada and Atlas. Duffy (2002) regards that the human propensity to give human form to inanimate objects (in this case robots) serves to limit the possibilities which could be achieved with robots and AI. This is a complex phenomenon where an intelligence is given a shape and form however once a human shape is given to a robot it is expected to behave in a human like manner and other factors creep in like emotions, personality etc which introduce new challenges rather than developing an intelligence which is just used for its own sake. Lemaign