An artificial intelligence engineer in China has built a robot and married it after he was unable to find himself a spouse. Zheng Jiajia, 31, tied the knot with Yingying on March 31 during a ceremony attended by his mother and friends in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, according to the South China Morning Post.
Zheng had built the robot late last year. One of his friends told Qianjiang Evening News that Zheng decided to tie the knot after giving into the pressure from his family to get married. The human-robot couple dated for two months. Zheng followed all the rituals, though his wedding is not officially recognised by the state, reported The Guardian.
As of now, Yingying can read some Chinese characters, recognise images and speak a few words. However, Zheng has plans to upgrade his wife so that she can walk around and do household chores.
The unusual wedding highlights the bigger problem of a skewed sex ratio in China. According to the World Economic Forum, there are 113.5 men for every 100 women in the country. Experts attribute the skewed sex ratio to China’s one-child policy that has led many couples to carry out sex-selective abortions.
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