Robin Kopecky
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2
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About
Robin Kopecky’s research lies at the intersection of moral psychology and human-robot interaction, exploring how people judge the ethical decisions of autonomous machines. Her most-cited work, “Innocence over utilitarianism,” challenges conventional assumptions by revealing that robots are held to *higher* moral standards than humans in rescue dilemmas—specifically, they are expected to avoid utilitarian trade-offs and instead prioritize deontological inaction. Through a rigorous series of eight experiments involving over 3,700 participants, Kopecky demonstrated that we demand robots preserve “innocence” even at the cost of saving more lives, a finding that reshapes how we design ethical AI. This work has garnered attention for its counterintuitive insights into moral cognition and its implications for robotics ethics. Beyond this flagship study, Kopecky continues to investigate how anthropomorphism, trust, and responsibility shape our expectations of artificial agents. Her contributions are vital for engineers, ethicists, and policymakers navigating the future of autonomous systems—showing that our moral judgments of machines are not just about outcomes, but about the very nature of agency and accountability.
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