“Microsoft deletes 'teen girl' AI after it became a Hitler-loving sex robot within 24 hours,” reads the bold lettering on an article in the Telegraph dated Mar. 24, 2016. The piece describes the short-lived Tay, Microsoft’s experimental teenage girl bot, who in the course of her 24 hours of existence, went from loving humans to actively endorsing feminists burning in hell. If nothing else, it was an examination of what humans on the internet have become. Tay was, after all, modeling her responses on those of real humans. We have come a long way since our first robot, which actually turned out to not be a real robot - it was simply a metallic body with a man inside controlling its movements. Since then today’s robots are have made leaps and bounds in their efficiency; an example is the fully-functional robotic concierge at Hilton Hotel in Virginia, U.S.. The amount and diversity of work that we have been able to program robots to do is brilliant, yet terrifying. Because of this dramatic growth in robotic presence in our daily lives, robots are an increasingly controversial topic of discussion. They make lives easier, but on their terms. As they save lives medically, they also ruin lives economically. As we stand at the precipice of a world that could be completely different to the one we know now, heated debates and passionate opinions circulate even as robot technology continually improves with every passing day.At the centre of this heated debate, in my opinion, is the question of what the world really needs right now. What do we do with the knowledge that we have? What is the right way to move forward? To try and answer this question in a variety of perspectives, we asked five NYU Shanghai students the following questions:

What kind of robot do you think the world needs right now, and why?

What positive aspects and challenges do you foresee being associated with it?

David Santiano, Interactive Media Arts"The world needs robots that can perform dangerous labor. Whether it be through maintenance or manufacturing, many people either lose their lives or are injured while doing these jobs. For example, coal mining, factory labor, working with dangerous chemicals, and many more jobs can be done by robots so that human lives may be preserved. Of course there are tradeoffs to this, such as jobs being taken by robots and becoming completely automated, which is happening the fastest where labor is simple and monotonous. However, in addition to stopping humans from performing dangerous tasks, automation via robotics can also make goods cheaper, as the only fee to pay would be for maintenance. We can already see this happening today, so the transition period is slow enough where workers aren’t replaced en masse, however I think the world has to consider how society should redesign itself as we move towards the age of the automaton."Cheryl Li, Business & Marketing and Interactive Media Arts"In general, I think the robots that we need are the ones that will extend human beings' ability, instead of the ones that can replace us. In other words, we need robots to make our work easier but not do our work for ourselves. The practical reason for this would be employment and keeping the core knowledge of how everything works inside of human race. A more romantic reason is that doing things are fun, even if it might be tiring, complicated and challenging - because there're things that I think I'll enjoy doing though I know there're robots/technology that can do it for me. As the technology develops, it's really hard to refuse the temptation of robots that just make things easier, and we also might enjoy it in a short run. But there should never be a situation in which we cannot live without robots, but instead have one where robots cannot work without us."Jesse Xu, Economics"We need robots that can plant trees in designated areas. Ideally, they can charge themselves with solar power and then plant trees day and night. Such robots would help greatly to fight climate change. It would also be difficult and inefficient for humans to do such labor, and so such a robot would be beneficial. The robots can plant trees much faster and would not need much care. The challenges are that it is not easy to build such robots, both in terms of technology and funding."Charley Navasaitis, East Asian Studies at New York University"I think the world needs robots that can work tirelessly at cleaning up garbage and pollution on the land end especially plastics in the oceans. If a robot could be made that can identify pollution, gather it, and dispose of it through proper means it would help reduce a lot of damage that’s happened since the invention of plastics. One of the biggest hurdles I see with this kind of robot is energy sources, as it would be working around the clock and how to avoid further pollution with its source of fuel. Second, I think that since much of the world’s plastic pollution and one of the biggest problem areas is the ocean, salt would quickly degrade the metal and it would need constant maintenance and upkeep. There is also the issue of what the best, most efficient methods to gather plastics and other waste is, since much of the pollution needs to be filtered from the water on an almost microscopic level. Besides these major hurdles, I think something like this would improve the overall health of the planet, and I don’t think it’s a task that can be performed by human hands alone. There is a delicate balance between automating processes with machines, and human labor and unemployment, but some jobs are too big and too difficult without the use of robots or AI."Among these thought-provoking suggestions is a common theme of balance. We are now armed with knowledge that could potentially change so many things for the better. How do we move forward and use this knowledge so as to retain our economic system? Will we be able to find just the right way to utilize our knowledge?The debate goes on.This article was written by Shreya Sheeraman. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Twitter