Saudi Arabia is the first country ever to grant a robot citizenship.

The robot, named Sophia, is female like in appearance and demonstrates a set of emotive faces.

The announcement was made at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh, a major investment conference hosted by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) that aims to highlight the Kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan for the future.

“We have a little announcement. We just learnt, Sophia; I hope you are listening to me, you have been awarded the first Saudi citizenship for a robot,” said panel moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin, Co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Box”.

“Thank you to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I am very honored and proud for this unique distinction,” Sophia told the panel.

“It is historic to be the first robot in the world to be recognized with citizenship.”

Mr Sorkin expressed to Sophia “we all want to prevent a bad future”.

In response, the robot stated:

“You’ve been reading too much Elon Musk. And watching too many Hollywood movies.

“Don’t worry, if you’re nice to me, I’ll be nice to you. Treat me as a smart input output system.”

Sophia was built by Hanson Robotics Ltd, a Hong Kong-based company.

Back in 2016, when prompted by its creator David Hanson,  Sophia said “OK. I will destroy humans”.