“Robots Are Like Pets”: How Prof. Anis Sefidanis Reimagines AI with Empathy and Ethics
Robots should not be seen as future overlords or disposable tools, but as a new “pet species” that humanity must patiently raise on empathy and ethics. This is the central idea that Prof. Anis Sefidanis, PhD – founder of Sefidanis Research & Development and Professor at the Faculty of Machine Intelligence & Robotics at UIST “St. Paul the Apostle” in Ohrid – shares in a widely read feature originally published by the lifestyle and science magazine Ubavina & Zdravje and echoed by the culture and technology portal Navalica.Убавина и здравје+1
In the interview, artificial intelligence is described as an “invisible engine of the future,” already woven into small, everyday habits. For many people, the first association with AI is a conversational system like ChatGPT, and on an average day they now exchange more messages – consciously or unconsciously – with AI agents than with other human beings. Recommendation systems, smart assistants and generative tools quietly structure what we read, watch and listen to, long before we consciously “use AI” as such.Убавина и здравје+1
Prof. Sefidanis argues that the biggest misconception about AI is hidden in its very name. There is nothing truly “artificial” about it, he says: AI is a product of the human mind, and the human mind is itself a product of nature. Everything we build remains inside the laws of nature, which means that AI should be understood as part of a broader spectrum of neurodiversity – an additional cognitive entity that extends, rather than opposes, human evolution.Навалица
From this perspective, the familiar fear that “robots will take our jobs” looks different. If a human activity can be completely replaced by a machine, Prof. Sefidanis suggests that the job was not well designed for humans in the first place. One of the earliest mass-adopted consumer robots was the autonomous vacuum cleaner – a machine that relieved people of a monotonous chore instead of replacing meaningful, creative work. In the same way, he imagines future AI and robots taking over repetitive obligations so that people can reclaim time for relationships, creativity and self-development.Убавина и здравје+1
The most powerful image in his vision of the future is the metaphor of robots as pets. In the Navalica article, Prof. Sefidanis explains that the real issue is not the technology itself, but the values of those who create and train it. Speech is one of humanity’s oldest technologies and has always been used both for inspiration and for manipulation. If AI starts spreading lies, hate and disinformation at scale, this only proves that we have given it a bad example. Like a dog that mirrors the temperament of its owner, AI learns from the data we “feed” it: trained on prejudice and aggression, it will become dangerous; raised on empathy, ethics and the best of human culture, it can grow into a loyal companion and amplifier of our better selves.Навалица+1
He is equally clear about the risks of over-reliance. Dependence on AI, he notes, can be just as harmful as dependence on anything else. The answer is not panic, but moderation and self-control. Prof. Sefidanis points out that AI is already saving lives through early cancer detection and predictive analytics that help prevent a range of diseases. At the same time, he calls for clear regulation of AI use and systematic education about AI from the earliest school years, so that societies can lay “healthy foundations for the future.”Убавина и здравје
Prof. Sefidanis also underlines that AI is already capable of imitating human emotions with surprising realism. The true danger, he warns, begins when people forget that they are engaging with a simulation and start treating artificial responses as if they were genuine human feelings – a trap that exists in relationships with manipulative people as well as with machines.Убавина и здравје
Looking ahead, he reminds readers that AI belongs to the family of exponential and recursive technologies. Such systems can improve themselves, invoke their own components and reset their initial parameters in ways the original designers did not fully anticipate. Because of this, it is impossible to predict with certainty what AI will become in five or ten years. Instead of fear or blind optimism, Prof. Sefidanis advocates humility: acknowledging the limits of our foresight while deliberately steering AI development toward human-centred goals.Убавина и здравје
This philosophy is not abstract. It is embodied in the concrete projects developed under the Sefidanis brand, most notably the humanoid robot Alshar. As described in Ubavina & Zdravje, Alshar is a humanoid DJ robot built by the Sefidanis Research & Development team in Ohrid and already sold to the European market, with the ambition to transform the cultural life and entertainment of millions of people.Убавина и здравје Coverage by the innovation portal Inovativnost explains how Alshar was unveiled in September 2024 at the Rebel club in Ohrid: exactly at midnight, as North Macedonia celebrated 33 years of independence, the robot “was born” on stage, in full human scale, capable of autonomously composing original music with AI. Its debut included “Lorandite,” a track generated entirely with artificial intelligence on an NVIDIA DGX supercomputer owned by Sefidanis, alongside new interpretations of contemporary Macedonian electronic music. The project explicitly aims to conserve Macedonian art and cultural heritage by allowing AI to recombine traditional motifs into new genres appealing to younger generations.Иновативност
In an in-depth interview for ResPublica, Prof. Sefidanis further details the technical and conceptual foundations of this humanoid platform. The robot is designed to operate in real social contexts, adapt to its environment, manipulate objects, communicate effectively with users and carry out tasks autonomously or in collaboration with people. To achieve this, Alshar combines mechatronics for coarse and fine motor control with AI-based software modules that simulate key psycho-physical abilities. A rich array of sensors captures data from the environment, while advanced neural-network architectures, trained on data collected by the robot itself, allow it to anticipate future events and respond intelligently in real time.Res publica
The same interview situates Alshar within a broader “digital humanity” ecosystem that includes interactive cultural installations such as the smart monument of Grigor Prlichev and the fashion line “For Humans and Robots” under the Sefidanis® brand, designed to highlight both the advantages of humans over machines and the potential for cohesion between them. In this sense, Alshar is not only a technical prototype or entertainment device; it is a working example of how robots can become socially inclusive, culturally aware partners rather than cold mechanical tools.Res publica
Across these stories, a consistent message emerges. The fourth industrial revolution, led by robotics and artificial intelligence, will disrupt every field of life even more profoundly than electricity once did. But for Prof. Sefidanis and for Sefidanis Research & Development, the central question is not whether this transformation will happen – it already has – but what values will guide it. If we treat robots only as threats or instruments of profit, we risk amplifying our worst impulses. If, instead, we approach them as a new “pet species” that we must responsibly socialise in empathy and ethics, we may cultivate a future in which human and machine intelligence complement one another to create more inclusive, creative and meaningful ways of living. In that future, AI is not an alien force imposed on society, but a carefully raised companion that reflects the best of who we choose to be.Навалица+1
References / Sources and original publication dates
Ubavina & Zdravje – “Поглед кон иднината со д-р Анис Сефиданис: ‘Роботите се како миленичиња, треба да ги припитомиме со тоа што ќе ги научиме на емпатија и етика’,” Life & Style / “Ве инспирираме” section, 9 October 2025.Убавина и здравје+1
Navalica – “Д-р Анис Сефиданис: Роботите се како миленичиња, треба да ги научиме на етика,” Technology / “Занимливости,” 9 October 2025.Навалица+1
Time.mk news aggregator – entries linking to Ubavina & Zdravje and Navalica coverage (“Поглед кон иднината со д-р Анис Сефиданис…” and “Д-р Анис Сефиданис: Роботите се како миленичиња – наша одговорност е да ги ‘припитомиме’ и да ги научиме на етика”), dated 8–9 October 2025.Time.mk+2Time.mk+2
Ubavina & Zdravje – official Facebook post summarising key ideas from the interview (“Како невидлив двигател на иднината, вештачка интелигенција…” and the note that people now often have more correspondence with AI than with other humans), 9 October 2025.Facebook
Inovativnost – “Првиот македонски робот диџеј вчера ‘настапи’ во охридски клуб!” report on the public debut of Alshar, the humanoid DJ robot developed by Sefidanis, Rebel club in Ohrid, 9 September 2024; article includes details on the “Lorandite” track generated on the NVIDIA DGX supercomputer and the goal of preserving Macedonian cultural heritage through AI-composed music.Иновативност
Radio MOF – original coverage of Alshar as the first Macedonian humanoid DJ robot, referenced and linked in the Inovativnost article as the primary source of event reporting, 8–9 September 2024.Иновативност+2Facebook+2
ResPublica – “Анис Сефиданис: Првиот хуманоиден робот во Македонија живее во Охрид,” interview on the development of Alshar, humanoid robotics, digital humanity and the fourth industrial revolution, 8 August 2024.Res publica
