
Will Humans Love AI Robots?
Social robots are moving from labs into care homes, and this DW documentary asks whether people will actually accept them as companions rather than tools. At a care facility in Rendsburg, researcher Hannes Eilers of the Kiel University of Applied Sciences tests autonomous robots that sing with elderly residents, play games, and lead physio exercises, though data protection rules bar them from praying with patients or connecting to outside AI servers. Psychologist and philosopher Agnieszka Wykowska, working at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, explains why humans project faces and feelings onto machines, from car hoods to humanoid robots. At MIT, Hossein Rahnama demonstrates chatbots built to mimic a person's appearance and speech, and argues that sentient digital clones of individuals may not be far off. The film moves between the care home floor and research labs, letting residents, caregivers, and scientists speak for themselves about what a machine would need to feel like a real companion, and whether anyone will be able to tell the difference between a person and their digital double.