GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (REUTERS) - Saudi Arabia has granted citizenship to a humanoid robot named Sophia.

The country made the announcement last week at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh.

Sophia is a life-like humanoid robot with a captivating smile and expressive eyes, designed to look like late British film star Audrey Hepburn.

She was created by David Hanson, founder of Hanson Robotics and former "Imagineer" at Disney, who has a reputation for creating robots that closely resemble humans.

Amnesty International has raised concerns about artificial intelligence, saying experts who work on such technologies must ensure they are safe and respect people's rights.