AI company responds to outrage of male humanoid robot 'groping' female reporter

Saudi Arabia robotics company QSS unveiled its humanoid robot called Mohammad at a premiere described as the "meeting place for the global artificial intelligence ecosystem." During the unveiling, Mohammad appeared to reach out and try to grab a female reporter's backside.

The DeepFest event in Riyadh was held last week and during the event a female reporter for Al Arabiya named Rawya Kassem, was standing in front of the humanoid robot talking to the audience. The above video shows the robot reaching its hand out with the goal of what appears to be touching the backside of Kassem. The reporter quickly moves back away from Mohammad raising her palm towards it before she continues to address the crowd.

It wasn't long before users on X began to accuse the humanoid robot of attempting to grope the reporter, but QSS has responded to the claims, telling Metro that Mohammad is built to help out in hazardous situations and may have been attempting to encourage Kassem to step further back on the stage to prevent falling all its edge. Additionally, QSS stated it conducted a thorough review of the footage and the circumstances surrounding the incident and found there were "no deviations from expected behavior".

Furthermore, QSS said that attendees, including reporters, were informed not to get too close to Mohammad during the demonstration. Despite QSS rebutting claims of Mohammad making sexual advances toward the reporter, the company said it will be taking "additional measures" to prevent people from "getting close to the robot within its areas of movement".