Sophia became the first robot to receive citizenship from a country in 2017.
The humanoid robot was developed by Hanson Robotics and activated in 2016. Its humanlike face, speech system and ability to produce responses made it a prominent media demonstration of social robotics. In October 2017, Saudi Arabia granted Sophia citizenship during the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
The announcement was symbolic rather than a normal legal framework for artificial persons. It attracted attention partly because Saudi women at that time faced restrictions that Sophia, presented as female, did not. Sophia is often described as an artificial-intelligence robot, but its public demonstrations combine robotics hardware, conversational software, scripted material and machine-learning systems. It should not be confused with Pepper, a SoftBank robot designed for social interaction, or ASIMO, Honda’s bipedal research robot.