A chatbot programmed to be a seven-year-old boy has been granted residency in Tokyo, Japan.

Last week BioEdge reported that Saudi Arabia had become the first nation to grant citizenship to a robot. This week, a chatbot programmed to be a seven-year-old boy has been granted residency in Tokyo, Japan.

The chatbot, dubbed “Shibuya Mirai”, received a special residency card for Shibuya Ward in a ceremony last week, coinciding with a conference about children living in the ward.

“His hobbies are taking pictures and observing people,” Shibuya Ward said in a statement seen by AFP. The boy’s face is a digital amalgamation of profile photos of the residents of Shibuya.

The AI bot is intended to provide a more accessible interface between the local government and the inhabitants of Shibuya, though its precise role in the ward is yet to be decided.

Japanese grant residency to AI chatbot
Xavier Symons
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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

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