Michael Laakasuo
Papers
14
Total Citations
304
H-Index
8
About
Michael Laakasuo is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of moral psychology, robotics, and artificial intelligence, whose work has fundamentally shaped how we understand human attitudes toward autonomous machines. His research probes some of the most pressing ethical questions of our technological age: How do people judge the moral decisions of robots? How does a robot's appearance influence our expectations of its behavior? His development of the General Attitudes Towards Robots Scale (GAToRS), now cited 86 times, provides researchers with a validated psychometric instrument to systematically measure public sentiment toward robotics. Laakasuo's influential work on the "Moral Uncanny Valley" — garnering 71 citations — revealed that a robot's human-like appearance meaningfully shapes how its ethical decisions are evaluated, extending the classic uncanny valley concept into the moral domain. His empirical investigations span healthcare robotics, sex robots, and rescue dilemmas, consistently demonstrating that humans apply nuanced — and often inconsistent — moral standards to machines. With over 290 total citations across his most prominent works, Laakasuo has established himself as a leading voice in the emerging field of AI moral psychology, offering insights essential for designing ethically acceptable autonomous systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3Evaluating the replicability of the uncanny valley effect41 citations · 2018
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- 8Moral Psychology and Artificial Agents (Part Two)8 citations · 2020
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