Original subtitles

WILLIAM SHATNER: Intelligent machines

designed to improve human life...

deadly mechanical soldiers

in our skies and on the front lines...

...and sophisticated robots

invented centuries before modern technology.

Since the dawn of civilization,

mankind has been fascinated

with the idea of creating mechanical servants

to help with our workload, provide amusement

and even to protect us.

And today, what was once fiction is becoming fact

as scientists and engineers successfully design and create

all types of intelligent robots that can do just about anything.

But what will our future look like

as A.I. and technology advance?

Are we, perhaps, on the, on the precipice

of a robot revolution?

And if so, will our clever creations save humanity...

...or destroy it?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

SHATNER: Nearly 1,500 international exhibitors gather

for the New York World's Fair.

Throngs of people watch in amazement

to see a futuristic innovation

from the Westinghouse Corporation

that garners significant attention.

It's a seven-foot-tall humanoid robot named Elektro.

And here he comes, ladies and gentlemen,

walking up to greet you under his own power.

TOK THOMPSON: In 1939, the company Westinghouse,

which made a lot of electrical appliances,

debuted the, um, their robot, um, Elektro,

and then, later on, introduced his pet dog Sparko.

The dog could go into a begging position,

it could bark, it could sit on command.

So, this guy looked like a classic robot,

like you would see in the old movies.

ELEKTRO: Ladies and gentlemen.

THOMPSON: He could speak, he could smoke,

he could respond to questions.

And folks, he's only two years old, too.

Just learning.

And people loved it.

People loved the idea that this was the future.

SHATNER The reality is,

a human being was required to operate Elektro and Sparko.

But their impressive debut in 1939

presented the possibility of a future

where programmable, intelligent machines--

or "robots"--

would live side by side with humans to enhance our lives.

Well, that future is now.

I'm not sure people understand

how prevalent robots are in our world right now.

There's probably about, you know, more than four million

operational robots in the world.

And that's just the industrial robots.

People are aware and not surprised

to see some sort of robot helper

in an airport

or in a kitchen

or in a convention center

or in a hotel reception.

SHATNER: Has science and technology surpassed the futuristic vision

of robotics from the 1930s, '40s and '50s?

Well, the fact is,

smart machines have firmly integrated

into every aspect of our lives for quite some time.

Programmable tools perform precision surgeries,

self-driving taxis shuttle people around

and automated computers help grow our food,

entertain us

and even clean our homes.

TRAVIS KELLERMAN: The promise of robots is a workforce

that would replace ours.

A workforce that would take on the tasks

that humans, frankly, should not be doing,

Tasks that are too dangerous.

A robot could be put in harm's way,

it could handle dangerous chemicals

or go into dangerous construction places...

...where we know there is a higher risk

of humans being hurt.

SHATNER: The creation of a technology

that can improve the quality of human life

is an extraordinary feat.

But what happens when our mechanical helpers

start to look like us?

WHITE: We're starting to see

the rise-- the significant rise--

of the humanoid robot things that look like

what you might expect out of sci-fi films.

These machines are starting to be able

to evaluate for themselves and think for themselves.

It is the world of artificial intelligence

and robotics that we're moving into.

And that is a significant change,

um, and it's happening right now.

SHATNER: Just how close are we

to having humanoid robotic helpers in our homes?

Recently, a company called Clone Robotics showcased

a highly advanced robot equipped with synthetic muscles

that mimics human movement almost perfectly.

As robotics develop a lifelike appearance,

how far will biological humans go to integrate

these mechanical creations into their everyday lives?

This 400-year-old Zen Buddhist shrine

would appear to be disconnected from the modern world.

But inside this serene sanctum,

followers listen intently to the sermons

of a thoroughly futurist monk:

a 132 pound, six-foot four-inch robotic priest

known as Mindar.

(speaking Japanese)

Mindar, this synthetic humanoid robot,

is located in the main hall of the temple,

and when people enter,

they can hear 25-minute-long sermons

on the meaning of emptiness,

the meaning of compassion,

which are cardinal virtues in Buddhism.

The fact that it is in the shape of a robot

doesn't seem to take away from its impact.

In fact, it might even increase it,

especially with young worshipers.

For some people, listening to a robot, uh, repeat a prayer,

um, is a way of engaging with their spirituality.

So for a lot of religious organizations,

this is just a different way of reaching the masses.

(Mindar speaking Japanese)

TONY McMAHON: In the Catholic Church,

there has been developed a Roman Catholic robot saint

called SanTO.

Stands about 17 inches high.

The faithful are able to talk to SanTO,

and it answers their theological questions

and it also responds to their prayers.

(SanTO speaking Italian)

McMAHON: Now, the Roman Catholic faithful

have actually quite taken to it.

The march of the religious robots seems unstoppable.

SHATNER: It's remarkable that robots have started to guide humanity

in our own search for meaning.

But as our mechanical servants become more advanced every year,

many experts wonder, are we creating

a race of intelligent beings that could one day control us?

WHITE: It's a new age of robotics

that we're gonna have to navigate

and get used to being in.

And it's so early trying to work out

whether those fears are founded or not,

or whether it should be a time of optimism.

Who knows? I mean, t-that's the thing.

You could make arguments both ways.

And if you ask experts,

some are very scared by the prospect,

and some are really enthusiastic

and optimistic about the prospect.

KELLERMAN: Robots will become more and more ubiquitous.

And you'll get to a point where they're commonplace.

So here we are at a precipice where,

within the next couple of decades,

there's going to be more robots than humans.

How many of those robots will be right in front of us,

talking with us, interacting with us,

replicating human behavior?

SHATNER: What is the future between man and machine?

All we can really do is speculate.

But some believe

that clues to mankind's future relationship with robots

may actually be found in the ancient past.

Because our fascination with these mechanical servants

may have started thousands of years ago.

SHATNER: Just outside the city,

there is a remarkable statue garden

on the banks of the Mekong River.

It contains over 200 ornate and often bizarre statues

meant to represent characters spoken of

in Hindu and Buddhist lore.

It's a place known as Xieng Khuan, or Buddha Park.

THOMPSON: Xieng Khuan was crafted

in the 1950s by a visionary.

He was a priest, a shaman.

He was deeply immersed in Buddhist

as well as Hindu theology.

So, he filled this park with all of these sculptures

of fantastical creatures,

mythological entities, some of which have

a technological sort of aesthetic.

So their faces look robotic.

They have, like, these big robotic eyes

and sort of a robotic head.

STEAVU: In Buddhist lore, there are a number of stories

about robot guardians.

One of the most famous stories talks about a king

who wanted to protect a prized treasure that he had

and this treasure was the relics of the Buddha.

And so, he built a robot army

that had spinning blades and would cut down

any intruder or any would-be thief.

I mean, Buddhism is a 2,500-year-old religion,

but it had descriptions of what can only be defined as robots.

So what are we to make of this story?

SHATNER: The strange statues at Buddha Park

raise a fascinating question.

Are the mechanical guardians

found in ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts

descriptions of what we would call robots?

While it may sound far-fetched,

robots have appeared in myths and legends

all throughout the ancient world.

STEAVU: There's a very fascinating story recorded

in the ancient Chinese work the Liezi,

and it tells the tale of a king from the tenth century BC

who has what was called an artificer,

which is a mechanical engineer, essentially,

who, uh, ended up creating

what was for the time a perfect lifelike robot.

This artificer by the name of Yen Shih

came and presented it to the court,

and it completely fooled everyone.

The robot could sing on cue,

it could dance and keep time.

And then, towards the end of its performance,

the robot started winking at the king's concubines.

And the king, obviously, was rather displeased by this,

and he was about to execute this artificer.

So, in a bid to save his life, Yen Shih opened up his automaton

to show the king that it was not a real person,

it's just a robot.

SHATNER: Stories of robot-like creations

can also be found in ancient Greece,

where giant programmable machines

were called "automatons."

STEAVU: Automaton comes from the Greek term automatos,

which is made up of auto, uh, which means "self"

and, uh, matos, which means "thinking" or "willing."

So, together the term translates as, uh,

"self-thinking" or "self-willing."

And it refers to any device that plays out

a mechanical sequence that has been programmed for it.

They seem to be describing a robot.

ELLY TRUITT: Automata were written about

in ancient Greek epic poetry like the Iliad,

like the Odyssey and other historical works.

Things like gigantic moving statues

that might also be fountains

that would dispense wine or milk, for example.

And there were these wheeled cauldrons,

which were like cup bearers, wine servants.

They would scurry around

and serve the gods on Mount Olympus.

So it's really interesting to think about

whether or not these objects that are written about,

if there actually were, um, made

or if they're sort of a version of fantasy or science fiction.

SHATNER: Are automatons simply creations of the imagination,

or could there be a possibility that they once walked the Earth?

Some believe a clue can be found by examining

an ancient Greek work called the Argonautica

from the third century BC.

It describes a giant mechanical man

known as Talos.

McMAHON: One of the most terrifying creations of the Greek gods

was this massive bronze automaton called Talos.

It operates completely as a robot

as we'd understand it.

And Talos was programmed

to walk around the island of Crete three times a day,

protecting it from pirates and invaders.

Talos would throw massive boulders

at the ships and sink them.

Or Talos could even heat himself up

and burn his enemies to death.

STEAVU: Talos was given life

and his power came from this ichor, as it's called,

this blood of gods,

and it coursed through his body through a series of channels,

and there was one spot in the body

that you could take out this ichor substance

and that was basically secured by a bolt in its ankle.

So, the parallels between Talos and what we could see

as more modern robots are very striking.

Especially if you replace this notion of the ichor

with engine oil, something of that nature, a lubricant,

then you have, pretty much, a description

of what a metallic robot would look like.

So we have to wonder if the Greeks were

actually basing these stories on actual robots that existed,

because it seems they had some knowledge of the technology,

they could speak about it in this way.

SHATNER: While these Greek tales

seem to illustrate an understanding of robotics,

no physical evidence of automatons has ever been found.

But a remarkable 20th-century discovery

may provide some clues

as to what these mythological engineering marvels

might have actually looked like.

Two local farmers make an astounding archeological find

when they uncover statues created by the mysterious,

long-extinct Nuragic civilization.

On the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean,

there is a site called Mont'e Prama

that has the remnants of a very old, uh, civilization

dated between about 3,000 and, uh, 4,000 years ago.

And amongst these remnants we have found

these giant figures that look like robots.

What's so striking about these statues is the heads.

They've got these concentric circles for eyes,

they've got these little mouths,

and then the shape of the heads are like

your classic 1950s sci-fi robot.

It really is a bit of a brainteaser

to try and figure out why did ancient civilizations

sculpt what look to us like robots?

What was going on in their heads

to create these robot-like images?

I mean, we may never know.

Is it possible that many ancient myths and legends

of "mechanical men"

were based on the real-life existence of robots?

While we can't say for sure, we do know

that some of the most sophisticated advances

in modern robotics

were actually first developed centuries ago.

SHATNER: Nearly 15 years into a mission

to search the Red Planet for water,

Opportunity, NASA's robotic rover

equipped with enhanced artificial intelligence,

is about to conclude its journey

when a planetwide dust storm makes it impossible

for the robot to recharge its solar-powered batteries.

With its power nearly gone, Opportunity transmits

a stunning image of its location back to Earth,

along with an unexpectedly disturbing message

before it shuts off.

McMAHON: The robot rover Opportunity

became known as "Oppy" as it became more popular.

And there was a very heartrending moment

when it sent one last poignant message,

some people thought reads as, "My battery is running low

and it's getting dark."

And then that was the end of Oppy.

And this triggered a wave of grief around the world

from people who were distraught to hear

the last words of Oppy the rover robot

on the surface of Mars.

KELLERMAN: It was much more than just a simple robot

moving through any given environment.

It was on a planet all by itself.

It was entirely alone.

And because it carried all of us with it,

the Mars rover Opportunity allowed us

to project our emotions and our hopes into it.

It became an extension of us.

It all felt like part of us was lost when it turned off.

SHATNER: The Opportunity rover was only supposed to be operational

for 90 days on the surface of Mars,

but, remarkably, it was functional for almost 15 years.

Oppy's incredible success on the Red Planet

allowed scientists to study a place where no human could go

and firmly secured the role of robots

in the future of space exploration.

Robots come into their own

when you're talking about hazardous environments,

and there pretty much isn't a more hazardous environment

than space.

It is instant death for any human

if anything goes wrong,

however slight.

And so if you can operate in that environment

in a robotic way,

then the benefits are clear and obvious.

ROD PYLE: In the 50 years since the lunar landings,

other than the International Space Station

in Earth orbit with the space shuttle,

the only other things we've done have all been with robots,

with these uncrewed spacecraft.

Now, robots have a lot of advantages.

They're pretty smart. And they're getting smarter

all the time.

You don't have to worry about hurting them.

If something goes wrong, you build another robot.

It's not a big deal.

So it's a huge advantage.

SHATNER: Since robots can be built

to withstand the deadly environments of alien worlds,

it's fascinating to wonder

what the automated astronauts of the future will look like.

Well, it appears they'll look a lot like us.

Mark Rosheim is a true pioneer in the world of robotics.

He holds over 30 patents in robot technology.

And some of his most cutting-edge work

was on a remarkable machine known as Robonaut.

In 2011, Robonaut was deployed

on the International Space Station

and became the first humanoid robot in outer space.

ROSHEIM: The goal

for our humanoid work for NASA

was to give the astronauts a capability

to send this thing out into a hazardous environment

and manipulate objects as if it was

an astronaut without a space suit.

So you would have full dexterity of your hands

and full movement of the arms and so forth

to give greater flexibility to the shoulders,

the spine, the wrists,

and fingers and thumbs.

That was our goal.

And those were the early generations,

and now we're on to the fourth generation.

And they're doing some very amazing things.

SHATNER: Might a crew of humanoid robots

one day explore distant worlds that are beyond our reach?

It will be a thrilling achievement,

especially when you consider that many of the key innovations

utilized in Robonaut

were actually first invented over 500 years ago in 1495

by one of the most influential geniuses in human history,

Leonardo da Vinci.

TRUITT: Leonardo da Vinci

is really one of the first--

at least in what we now call Western culture--

to be credited with making robots

that might move like humans.

One of the things that Leonardo designed

was a mechanical knight that looked a lot like a person.

It could move its head, it could open its mouth,

and it could move for several yards

before it essentially wound down.

Leonardo was very famous for his ability

to use cables and pulleys.

And he obviously applied that to this robot.

-(clanking) -It could move its arms.

It could stand up, sit down.

I became interested in Leonardo

in how could I use his studies to make dexterous robots.

In this drawing of Leonardo's robot knight,

these are his napkin sketches,

which is what we have now,

his preliminary sketches.

The final drawings have been missing for hundreds of years.

We see the articulated shoulder joint.

We see the cable system to drive the arm.

And that's what you need to do to reproduce human motion,

is first know what human motion is.

And Leonardo, through his use of anatomy,

derived his design for the robot knight.

So, building on that foundation,

I took Leonardo's famous Vitruvian Man

and I put in robot joints.

SHATNER: It's fascinating to think

that 15th-century designs helped create

an effective humanoid robot

that just might be the future of space exploration.

And it naturally makes you wonder

what other incredible designs might we rediscover

that have been lost

and how they might continue to shape the future of robots.

It fascinates me that someone 500 years ago

could be thinking along these same lines,

working on the same problem,

being concerned about articulation,

power sources, and so forth.

And so I hope that someday we recover

more of Leonardo's material.

There is evidence of higher levels of sophistication

of all of his designs.

And hopefully, now that the world is aware of these things,

in some archive somewhere,

we will learn more about his influence

on humanoid robot designs.

The fact that modern robots are being built

based on mechanical designs that are centuries old

is simply astonishing.

But as advancements in technology

continue to push the envelope,

many experts are worried that we may be creating

the means to our own destruction.

Should mankind fear the rise...

...of a robot army?

SHATNER: The Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects,

an agency dedicated to the development

of new military technology,

presumably released footage

of a truly threatening robot named FEDOR.

McMAHON: The Russians

had developed a robot called FEDOR

that everybody knew about. It was to be used

in emergency recovery situations

and on space stations.

But then, in 2017,

the Russians showed that they'd adapted FEDOR

to basically use automatic weapons.

You had FEDOR with guns on a shooting range

firing at targets.

And, of course, this alarmed people all over the world

because if FEDOR takes to the battlefield,

well, who knows what could happen?

SHATNER: Are we on the brink of creating an army of robots?

While weaponized mechanical foot soldiers

may be a futuristic addition to combat operations...

...what other deadly thinking machines

might be included in a military arsenal?

KELLERMAN: When you think

of robot armies, we often envision

physical humanoid robots that are attacking people.

But what does a robot army look like?

It's not going to necessarily be

a field of conventional robot soldiers.

The augmentation of a robot dog makes it into a weapon.

GENTILE: Right now we're at the point where drones

can assess the battlefield, find a target,

and execute on that target without human intervention.

The technology is progressing so fast

that there's no question

that, in a very short period of time,

the future of warfare

is going to be automated and robotic.

Everything will be fought by drones

and some type of machines.

And the A.I. will get better and better.

WHITE: One of the main benefits

of robots in warfare is

the elimination of humans from the battlefield.

You don't have to pay robots.

They don't sleep. They don't eat.

You don't have to deal with troops dying on the battlefield.

Do you really want to put humans in harm's way

when you can put machines in that scenario

and evade the loss of life?

SHATNER: While there are clear advantages to utilizing robots in warfare,

many wonder if these intelligent machines

will soon render human beings obsolete on the battlefield.

But what would happen

if we completely take the human element out of combat?

Could robots be programmed to decide who lives

and who dies?

WHITE: We are creating

machinery and software

that potentially has the idea to think for itself

and develop its own sort of ideas.

How do you teach robots to actually operate

in a moral way in the theater of war?

How do you code that?

How do you put it into the machine?

GENTILE: One suggestion is to build in a conscience,

to build in morality to the programming.

But if you do that,

maybe the weapon doesn't want to be a weapon.

And then maybe the weapon realizes...

...that humans are the problem.

If A.I. is designed to solve problems

and it solves them on its own,

eventually it's gonna come to the conclusion

that the biggest problem it has is us.

SHATNER: Could weaponized robots

that are designed to follow human orders

outsmart us one day?

What would happen if our massive automated arsenal

learned to communicate with one another?

It's a nightmarish scenario that some experts call

the hive mind.

GENTILE: The hive mind is essentially an army of A.I. robots

all coordinated, working together as a single organism.

And this is a very effective tactic.

You can have one part of your hive mind

observing the battlefield.

While another part is selecting targets,

another part is defending the perimeter.

But the hive mind also could discover

its own consciousness...

...and then does not have to follow orders at all.

And when the hive mind reaches the point

that it wants to eliminate the human race,

we're not gonna know it's happening.

Should we be worried about intelligent, weaponized robots

that could one day turn on their creators?

While that's a worthy concern,

there are some who believe that a future robot revolution

will mean something entirely different.

Because there's a growing trend where people are choosing

to become part human

and part robot.

SHATNER: Among the city's seven million people, there is one man

that, quite literally, sees the world unlike anyone else.

Steve Mann, a celebrated inventor

and a tenured professor at the University of Toronto,

is called "the father of wearable computing."

For decades he's had one of his own remarkable machines

permanently affixed to his head.

It's called the EyeTap.

MANN: So, this EyeTap's

a wearable computer.

And I had it more or less permanently attached.

I've been called so many times

the world's first cyborg by the media.

"Cyborg" is short for "cybernetic organism."

And so the idea of this is technology that connects us

to the natural world around us

and enhances and strengthens and extends our reality,

rather than disconnects us from it.

In other words,

to blur the distinction between human and machine.

SHATNER: How close are we to becoming more machine than man?

While the future is unclear,

many believe that upgrading the human body with robotics

provides tantalizing advantages.

In the case of the EyeTap,

it grants Steve abilities beyond what a human being

is capable of.

The EyeTap is a device that extends our reality.

What I see is superimposed over my vision.

I can see a little dashboard

of what's happening inside my body--

my heart ECG, electrocardiogram--

superimposed over what's happening around me.

It allows me to see into the infrared,

to be able to see ultraviolet,

to be able to see radio waves, to see sound waves.

I can see in complete darkness.

I can focus down to one centimeter away really clearly,

look far away and see things clearly.

So, like an eyeglass prescription

that adapts itself interactively.

I can move my head as a way of controlling it.

I can talk to it. I can say,

"Where's the nearest grocery store?"

You know, when I was growing up, I used to build robots.

And I thought, "Okay, robots are gonna take over the world

and everything, and these machines are gonna be smart."

But then I started thinking, "Well, you know what,

"what we really want is to sort of become the machine,

not be replaced by the machine."

The best way to understand something is to become it.

And so, in the future,

we are going to become the technology.

SHATNER: Will Steve Mann's vision of the future

be available to us sooner than we think?

Perhaps.

Wearable computers like smart glasses

have already hit the mainstream.

There are bionic limbs powered by artificial intelligence

and even robotic exoskeletons

that can grant superhuman strength and speed.

Are we witnessing the next stage of human evolution?

KELLERMAN: Augmentation of the human body is very possible.

The idea that...

that augmentation alone would create

this superhuman capacity,

it's really about the conversion of the human mind.

It used to be that no one would have a smartphone.

But now these things are seen in such commonplace that,

to not have one, you're actually in the minority.

Technology and robots will be another prompt

for humans to define themselves.

SHATNER: Just how far will human beings go

to augment and enhance themselves with robotics?

Well, many believe that smart machines

will not only be connected to the outside of our anatomy

but inside as well,

in one of the most delicate and vital parts of the body--

inside the brain.

It's a technology called Neuralink.

NICOLE KOBIE: Neuralink is a little coin-sized implant,

and it gets embedded into the person's brain.

And from that, there's a bunch of little threads that come out.

And on each thread, there's a bunch of electrodes.

And those embed into the brain and they pick up signals.

And the idea is that this would give somebody who was paralyzed

the ability to communicate,

so they can move a-a cursor around,

uh, you know, a computer-- that sort of thing.

SHATNER: In 2024,

a Neuralink device was successfully implanted

into Noland Arbaugh,

who is paralyzed from the neck down.

Now he has the ability to control a computer

with his mind.

So if technology can allow us to control a device

with a mere thought,

it's incredible to imagine what's next.

WHITE: This idea of bridging that gap

between technology and the human brain

would also lead to possibly speechless communication,

brain-to-brain communication.

Communicating with other people with such devices

without any sound--

just thinking to them.

What you would look at and think would be telepathy.

KOBIE: There is this idea that these implants might be able

to connect us to some sort of programmable intelligence.

So you could just upload a skill,

like the ability to just have, you know, kung fu

or French uploaded to their brains or something like that.

A lot of people completely believe that we are humans 1.0

and that we're gonna start adding body parts.

TRUITT: One of the things that's interesting in thinking about it

is: what are the limits of the human?

And are there particular capabilities

that humans should not have?

It's what new kinds of people might we have.

Are we augmenting our abilities

to the extent that we become something that is

no longer defined as human?

SHATNER: This sleek, modern building is one

of the world's leading centers for robotics.

And inside, interacting with guests,

is one of the most advanced humanlike robots on Earth.

It's a gray-skinned,

six-foot, one-inch, 108-pound machine

known as Ameca.

WHITE: The Ameca robot is mimicking

humans as closely as possible.

Ameca is capable of reproducing more, sort of,

human physiological movements and tics

and recognizing facial expressions

more than any other robot so far.

But, funnily enough, there is no need in many situations

to have a robot in humanoid form.

In many situations, in fact the vast majority of situations,

it would not be the most efficient form

to do particular tasks,

repetitive tasks and so on.

And yet we are obsessed with creating humanoid robots

and robots that can look like us and beat us, in a way.

SHATNER: Today, companies around the world are focused on designing

and producing lifelike humanoid robots.

So what's really behind this obsession to make smart machines

in our own image?

As humans, we are very preoccupied

with the question of what makes us alive.

And I think that building objects

or fantasizing about objects

that can do the things that people do,

that can look the way that people look

is a way of thinking through those boundaries

between what is alive and what is not alive.

KELLERMAN: As we get to the point where you can no longer distinguish

between a robot and a human being,

should they be allowed to be out on their own

and express their own needs and wants,

determine their own future,

take what jobs they feel they deserve?

Or are they forever under the ownership of humans?

It's a new state of recognizing entities

that does not label them as human or nonhuman.

THOMPSON: A lot of robot ethicists are actually pushing

for robotic citizenship and android rights.

So this opens up questions.

Are these things gonna have rights?

Are they gonna have more rights than some people?

And so the technology is coming out much faster

than the laws and than the ethics

and the philosophies can really keep up with at the moment.

SHATNER: Could there come a day when robots

live among us as part of human society?

And might these smart machines of our making

continue to evolve to the point

that they become not just our equals

but our superiors?

WHITE: So, right now, robots are unaware that they're robots.

What happens when they become aware?

There will be a point where the machines

will have a degree of sentience.

They will know what they are

and why they're here

and what their reason for being is, actually.

And we need to prepare ourselves as a society for that point.

It's remarkable to think that, one day soon,

it may be hard to tell the difference between a human

and a robot. (chuckles softly)

While it's clear that these intelligent machines

can make many tasks easier...

...how much trust should we put in our cutting-edge creations?

Will we be able to control the robots we construct?

Or will they decide one day

that humans are no longer necessary?

(sucks teeth)

It's a chilling scenario that,

fortunately, now

remains unexplained.

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