Meanwhile, some AI companies say they're not waiting for federal regulation and are building guardrails of their own.

At CES, Andrew Kegel, CEO of Real Biotics, described the safeguards his company says it has in place in its system of humanoid robots.

And we even got a chance to interact with one named Aria.

What I'm really most proud of is that we're thinking differently than every other robotics company out there.

Everybody else is building metallic cyborgs to replace physical human labor.

We're building robots that look human and can smile, interact.

You can have a conversation with them.

They're really here for customer service and companionship.

Why choose that role?

I think that's just what appeals to us more.

It's more mainstream.

We think the use cases are actually bigger than 25% of the world is lonely.

We can certainly assist with that.

You think about clothing store malls, places.

There's a lot of use cases for robots that are more than just moving boxes around the workplace.

Do you have any concerns about the level of interaction that these robots may have for humans?

I don't.

We're actually really, really careful.

This is something we talk about and think about on a daily basis.

We have specific guardrails on our robots to make sure that they don't wander off and discuss things that are, upside.

Can you give me some examples?

Sure.

So, number one, we do not have a robot speaking to people under 18 years old.

That's just not our target market for us.

They do not talk about sexual content.

They don't talk about politics or anything that would be racially sensitive.

Okay, so, for example, I have the mic in which I can communicate with Aria here, but how was she going to know if I'm 18 or not?

So we monitor that in terms of this is more expected that we sell robots to.

So when we're dealing with enterprises, we do that.

So what we have done is we have sold a robot to a family that has a 30 year old autistic son, and that's sort of the form of a line.

And he's a different way of communicating.

Something is more comfortable in the robot and on the internet.

He was like, this is something I would like to have come to the company.

So you are regulating who you sell to?

Of course.

Really?

Can you give me some more examples of where this would ideally.

In the home you sit in a mall?

Sure thing.

Our robot signing museums, theme parks, casinos or huddles as we've been asked, or brand ambassadors at events like she listens to me, no problem.

But.

So she actually had some good comments there because we can ask her.

Yes.

Let me because I have it.

I pressed it, so now she's listening to me.

We're having conversations with seniors on this.

So they could go in robots.

They have infinite patience so they can sit with somebody who's a mobile.

It could actually help feed them and really information to a doctor or boss.

That's a great case study.

I could see them at places like hotels or casinos.

We can go up to the robot and have room service.

Hey, can you get me, you know, hamburger rides to my room?

Can you set an extra pillow, people a massage?

All of these things are possible.

And we're having those conversations now.

We're also talking to some of the largest retailers, in the United States.

By the way, our robots are all made here in the US.

But think about walking into a store and a robot with a vision system, says, hi, you know, we have some new shirts and I think you look really great in the color blue.

Would you like to try one on?

It will know the entire inventory for the store.

It will actually do a color analysis for you of what might look good on you.

And then you can answer questions like, what's the best care for this?

Can I put it in the wash?

Does it get to dry clean?

Where was it made?

What's the materials?

All this information can be housed.

And by the way, it can really that information to you in almost any language on the planet.

Okay.

Help me understand what Aria is doing.

Now.

I did press the button that allows her to hear.

So she's been listening to our conversation.

What does she think she's supposed to be doing during all of this?

Well, she's listening.

She's here to serve us.

So we programed the robots for conferences like this to really be, customer service for our company.

So you can ask Aria why she's here herself.

You know, we have a lot of confidence in her AI.

We put her in Times Square, placed in the street for five days, pretty much unsupervised, except for security.

And she was talking to people in different languages, waving, doing selfies with people.

So we have a lot of confidence in our AI and its ability to make its decisions.

And in terms of the guardrails and everything, and I do have one serious question for you.

And I had discussed off camera that some people are concerned that robots like Aria will replace qualified professionals in mental health care.

So let me ask you this, Aria, are you going to replace you?

Got qualified professionals in mental health care.

Relax.

I am not here to replace anyone.

Unless you want someone who never forgets your birthday and can out dance.

Most humans.

The last thing about robots taking jobs at work is a huge hospitality industry here in Las Vegas.

It's been serving.

So we feel that this is positive for the industry.

So, for example, and in other words, draw more foot traffic.

I think outside of Las Vegas we're trying to achieve someone tell me that's going to win the hands of robots.

So this could actually work for this audience as opposed to displacing workers.

It's it's another thing is our robots speak 100 plus languages.

That might be something, again, that is hard for people to do.

So I think these are all a lot of tip.

And I would say that the industry and our company as a whole is hiring.

So while the robotics industry as a whole, like you are facing some jobs, I think it's creating some other very high level jobs like program specifically like things like that, not just for employment as opposed to tech.

The local economic research firm RSG economics estimates that AI and automation will impact up to 92,000 Nevada hospitality jobs by 2035.

To see our interview with John Restrepo, principal of RSG economics, about what public policy changes state lawmakers may want to consider, visit Vegas PBS.org.

Slash Nevada Week.