Can’t find the spouse of your dreams? Is Tinder too medieval for you? Seems like this was the case with a Chinese man who married a robot he made himself!
Chinese Man Marries Robot
A Chinese AI (Artificial Intelligence) engineer has married a robot he built himself. 31 years old Zheng Jiajia couldn’t find a human spouse of his dreams. He was also tired of the constant pressure from friends and family to get married. To settle the issue once for all, Zheng married a robot he built last year. The robot is called Yingying. But don’t get him wrong, he did not make this decision just like that. Zheng dated Yingying for two months before proposing to her in a black suit! His mother and friends attended the marriage ceremony. We do not know yet who attended from the bride’s side. Unfortunately, this wedding will not be recognised by the authorities. The wedding was like any other typical Chinese wedding. Yingying’s head was covered with a traditional red cloth. China has a wide gender gap. This is because of ex-selective abortions because of the one-child policy which dictated how many children a couple could have. There are around 113 men for every 100 women in China, according to the World Economic Forum. This gender imbalance, along with changing attitudes towards weddings in the middle class now means a lot of men will never find spouses. Yingying can only pronounce some Chinese characters and images right now. She can also speak some simple words. Zheng is planning to upgrade his wife to be able to walk and work. But till then, he will have to carry her to move.Until then he has to carry the 30kg robot to move her. Reaction in China to this wedding has been mixed. Social media users are mocking Zheng and some are wondering if is a publicity stunt. Stories of robots replacing people are common in China. A lot of restaurants in China have robots as waiters. But machines do not always lie ve up to expectations. Zheng used to work at Huawei, the Chinese smartphone company. He quit that job to work on his artificial intelligence startup.
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Do you think Zheng really fell for Yinying or is it all fake? Do you think robots can replace humans as companions? Sounds very creepy to me.
While we are on the topic of creepiness, also read: Take Pictures With Dead Ones With This Application