For some, artificial intelligence may conjure sci-fi movie plots and fears of sentient robots challenging humanity. The greatest threat to the future of AI, he believes, is ignorance. Duncan discussed his concern as he sat only a few feet away from Bina48, a humanoid robot he helped create that can analyze and respond to hundreds of conversation starters. AI algorithms allow her to act, think and respond like a human. Although she's just a head and torso, sitting atop a desk in the living room of a house at the end of a winding dirt road, she can concoct facial expressions with human vulnerability, as her brown eyes track the room around her. You'll never miss a story with our daily headlines in your inbox.

A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University, in California. According to course instructor William Barry, associate professor of philosophy and director of the Mixed Reality Immersive Learning and Research Lab at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, a feat he described as "remarkable." The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution. The robot is modeled mentally and physically after a woman called Bina Aspen, who is married to technology entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt. Bina48 has been the subject of extensive media coverage since its creation, and is sometimes referred to as the "world's most sentient robot."

Almost every house in America has a microwave, toaster, refrigerator, TV and maybe a car, but someday, everyone may have their own personal robot. It may sound too Jetsons to be true, but the Terasem Movement Foundation in Bristol, Vermont, is betting that personal robots will be a huge part of the lives of future generations. The robots, they say, will be able to download people's personalities, serving as avatars and assistants to busy professionals and in some cases, replacing those who have been lost. The foundation's prized possession is Bina48, one of the most sophisticated humanoid robots ever built, capable of independent thought, emotion, and even being interviewed by the MailOnline. Bruce Duncan, 57, has been working with Bina48 for two years.

There's been a lot of chatter about artificial intelligence recently. Sometimes they're beating humans at board games or composing music, but they are all still very ... robotic. But in Vermont, the Terasem Movement Foundation is pioneering a new kind of AI geared to be almost completely human, programmed with users memories, thoughts and feelings. To test out the software, the organization created a sentient chatbot, Bina48, a human-robot hybrid. Bruce Duncan is the managing director at the Terasem Movement Foundation.

Unless you're new to the planet, you know that soon you'll be chatting away with artificially intelligent bots. But the bot revolution will also usher in something strange: It will give us a bot to talk for us, as us. I call it a "me bot." A developer named Irene Chang (a.k.a. Irene Lion) created a "me bot" at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon in New York.

Unless you're new to the planet, you know that soon you'll be chatting away with artificially intelligent bots. But the bot revolution will also usher in something strange: It will give us a bot to talk for us, as us. I call it a "me bot." A developer named Irene Chang (a.k.a. Irene Lion) created a "me bot" at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon in New York.