The idea of lending your face to a robot may sound like the plot from an episode of Black Mirror , but it could soon become a reality.
An unnamed robotics firm is searching for the human face of its new robots - and will even pay the successful applicant £100,000 for the privilege.
The firm has contacted geomiq.com to help find a ‘kind and friendly’ face for the robots, which will be used as ‘virtual friends’ for elderly people.
A spokesperson for Geomiq said: “At this point we’re not allowed to share any more details about the project, but we’re hoping that someone with the right face will get in touch as a result of this public appeal.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the right person; let’s hope we can find them.”
The robots are set to go into production next year and will be ‘readily available’ to the public, according to Geomiq.
It added: “We know that this is an extremely unique request, and signing over the licenses to your face is potentially an extremely big decision.”
The request has been heavily criticised on Twitter , with technology reporter Rowland Manthorpe even calling it a ‘bad sci-fi plot’.
Dr Kate Devlin, a sex robot expert added: "I'm cool with the whole friendly robot thing, btw.
"But I can't work out why a) it needs a realistically human face; and b) why that face needs to be of a real individual."
Meanwhile, others have questioned why the firm is searching for a human face, rather than creating a fake face of its own - much like the famous humanoid robot, Sophia.
One user tweeted: “Have these people ever heard of GANs? There are datasets with 100k realistic (but not real) faces available already.
"My guess is that we can code a nice generator for less than 100k..."
However, if the idea of seeing an army of robots with your face doesn’t put you off, you can apply here.
