Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced that its citizen robot Sophia will attend the upcoming Middle East and Africa (MEA) FinTech Forum which will start on Thursday, 21 February in Bahrain.

The forum will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) has become a major contributor in boosting the banking sector and how it will impact economic industries over the coming period.

Meanwhile, Sophia, who was granted Saudi citizenship in 2017, will discuss the future of AI and how it will affect financial services, Arabian Business reported.

“When I look to the future of financial services, I know that AI and other forms of innovation are going to fundamentally change how we work and live,” commented Arab Banking Corporation (Bank ABC) deputy CEO and Arab Financial Services’ (AFS) chairman Sael Al Waary.

After Sophia the robot was activated in 2016, she took on talks about AI, the future of the relationship between humanity and robots, and robotics.

In December, Saudi Arabia revealed said that Sofia had begun working at one of the kingdom’s government entities.

Recent research showed that financial services companies were the top investors in AI, noting that they were expected to spend around $10 billion by 2020.

Over 75% of “global finance managers believe that AI will be key to making their businesses successful in future,” Arabian business reported, noting that “only 25% of banking employees are ready to engage fully with AI in the workplace.”

It is worth noting that Sophia will be joined by her creator and founder of Hanson Robotics David Hanson at the MEA Forum in Bahrain later this month.

In 2018, Egypt unveiled plans to create an Egyptian version of Sophia that would be able to answer questions about the civil service law.