Artificial Phronesis

Abstract

Abstract Robotics technologies are already impacting the ethical and moral landscape we live in. This chapter looks at the need to develop machines with ethical and moral practical wisdom, a capability we will call artificial phronesis. Phronesis is a skill that most adult humans have to some level, but as of yet no machine has it. It is the ability to think creatively, artfully, and effectively in solving novel ethical and moral problems as they arise. Many of the robots of our imagination display this skill, and this shows that there is a desire to build such machines. This chapter defines the meaning of this new term and the boundaries of which kinds of systems it might apply to.