Ask for a smile, and you will get a smile on her face.

Ameca is a humanoid robot equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), allowing it to respond to questions and commands and interact with people. It is one of hundreds of robots on display this week at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in London, where visitors got a glimpse of the future.

The event is like the World Robot Olympics, where teams compete in a series of challenges including robotic cooking and autonomous driving competitions, academics present their research and startups demonstrate their latest technology.

The event comes as scientists and tech industry leaders, including executives at Microsoft and Google, have warned about the risks of artificial intelligence to humanity, saying “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority” on Tuesday.

New artificial intelligence systems are part of the spotlight at this year's show, said Kaspar Althoefer, the conference's 2023 chairman.

“ChatGPT is a great example of where AI has really advanced. And of course, there are also a lot of concerns about combining this with robotics,” Althoefer said. “For example, if you combine ChatGPT with a robotic device, then perhaps you can tell the robot what to do and it won’t need programming anymore.”

Will Jackson, director of Engineered Arts, the British company that created Ameca, said his company’s robots are designed for tasks that involve interacting with humans, such as helping visitors in theme parks. He said AI has advanced so quickly that the biggest challenge for robots is simply mechanical engineering.

Ameca uses the SteadySense AI image generator to draw and OpenAI's GPT-3 to generate feedback. When asked to compose a poem, it took Ameca a few seconds to come up with a few lines.

Mai Anh (according to AP)