China's humanoid robot Jiajia has conducted her first English-language live 'interview', talking with an American journalist via Skype in a moment that was broadcast live.

Just how well the interview went, however, depends on who you speak to.

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The robot's developer, a research team at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, Anhui province, claim that the interview with Kevin Kelly, the co-founder of tech magazine, Wired, went well despite Jiajia being asked some "challenging" questions.

So how did Jiajia fare in the interview? The South China Morning post said that the robot managed to blink realistically and smile throughout the interview but "largely failed to answer the questions Kelly posed, speaking after seconds-long delays."

Jiajia also talked with artificial intelligence scientists from Cornell University and Hamburg University.

The leader of the team, Chen Xiaoping, however said that Jiajia was mostly able to give "good answers" although she failed to answer some questions.

Researchers spent three years working to develop Jiajia, who has the ability to interact with humans and to understand languages. The robot is modelled on the characteristics and features of five women from the university, South China Morning Post reports.

Chen said: "There were some delays due to the [Skype] network. Apart from that, I think the conversation was successful."

The aim was to build a robot that was "attractive", a Beijing News report said in 2016.

In a live stream, Jiajia also conversed with a Xinhua reporter.

Social media users not impressed

Social media users however were far from impressed with the performance of Jiajia at the interview. They claimed that Jiajia failed to measure up to other artificial intelligence audio devices — namely Apple's Siri or Amazon's Alexa.

One person said: "It does not work!" While another adds: "It needs some major revamping."

Jiajia says her age is a 'secret'

Despite the criticisms, the robot did show some humour in her answers.

When asked how old she was, Jia jia moved her head back and forth, before replying: "It's a secret," much to the amusement of those present.

When asked if she was the most beautiful person in the world, her response was: "Maybe, I'm not sure."

Jia jia however was unable to say how many letters there were in the English alphabet. When asked by Kelly, if she could talk about him, the robot gave an "incoherent reply", the newspaper reports.

Artificial Intelligence