Unit 9 Robot Ethics

Robot ethics (or roboethics) concerns ethical problems that occur with robots, such as whether robots pose a threat to humans, whether some uses of robots are problematic, and how robots should be designed such that they act ‘ethically.’ Researchers from diverse areas are beginning to tackle ethical questions about creating robotic technology and implementing it in societies, in a way that will still ensure the safety of the human race.

Source: Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Robot ethics” (Wikipedia contributors 2021c), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

9.1 Reading: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics

Book overview: Robot Ethics – The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics

Edited by Patrick Lin, Keith Abney and George A. Bekey

Robots today serve in many roles, from entertainer to educator to executioner. As robotics technology advances, ethical concerns become more pressing: Should robots be programmed to follow a code of ethics, if this is even possible? Are there risks in forming emotional bonds with robots? How might society—and ethics—change with robotics? This volume is the first book to bring together prominent scholars and experts from both science and the humanities to explore these and other questions in this emerging field.

Starting with an overview of the issues and relevant ethical theories, the topics flow naturally from the possibility of programming robot ethics to the ethical use of military robots in war to legal and policy questions, including liability and privacy concerns. The contributors then turn to human-robot emotional relationships, examining the ethical implications of robots as sexual partners, caregivers, and servants. Finally, they explore the possibility that robots, whether biological-computational hybrids or pure machines, should be given rights or moral consideration.

Ethics is often slow to catch up with technological developments. This authoritative and accessible volume fills a gap in both scholarly literature and policy discussion, offering an impressive collection of expert analyses of the most crucial topics in this increasingly important field.

Source: Adapted from the overview of the book “Robot Ethics” (Lin, Abney, and Bekey 2012) at https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/robot-ethics.
Read the text above and answer the following questions.
  1. Why do ethical concerns become more pressing?
Show/Hide solution because robotics technology advances
  1. Who is involved in this book?
Show/Hide solution scholars and experts from both science and the humanities
  1. What are the roles of robots in human-robot emotional relationships that this book examines?
Show/Hide solution sexual partners, caregivers, and servants
  1. Is research on robot ethics fast enough?
Show/Hide solution ethics is often slow to catch up with technological developments

9.2 Writing: Can Robots Replace Human?

Write a paragraph about a job that can be performed by robots and the relevant ethical or legal issues.

9.3 Speaking: Android

Discuss with your classmates whether or not robots should look like a human. How much should robots look like us?

Copyright © Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, ATR

9.4 Listening: Can We Apply Human Ethics to Robots?

Source: “Can we apply human ethics to robots? 🤖 (Roboethics).” Youtube. https://youtu.be/dWshtBOgCvs (Interesting Engineering 2019).

 

Listen to the video and fill in the blanks.

[From 2:37] How can we create robots that never harm humans?

When robots can finally think for themselves, who or what is going to be held responsible, when or if an autonomous system or willfully harms a human.

Currently researchers are following a trend that aims at promoting the design and implementation of artificial systems with embedded acceptable behavior. This is all good and well for service robots. They are designed to live peacefully among humans.

But what do we do about robots? How do we apply robot ethics to robots that are meant to harm and perhaps even kill humans?

Author of The Ethical Landscape of Robotics Noel Sharkey argues that the cognitive capabilities of robots do not match that of humans and thus lethal robots are as they may make mistakes more easily than humans.

Indeed Asimov’s laws cannot be theoretically applied to robots that are designed to kill humans. There is also the theory that engineers and designers of robots must assume regarding the ethical consequences of their creations. In other words, engineers and designers of robots must be morally accountable for what they design and bring out into the world.

If this is the case then creators of lethal robots take responsibility for the harm those robots do. This is a tricky area to navigate as military robots are a big industry and will continue to become more so.

In the end robot ethics seem to leave us with more questions. Only time will tell how the field evolves with the advent of more and more robots. But since the age of robotics is upon us, it might serve us well to explore robot ethics at a .

Show/Hide solution malfunctions; morally; lethal; unethical; responsibility; unanswered; faster pace

9.5 My Glossary

Translate these terms into your language.

ethics
humanities
morally
lethal

Web Hits