Developing robots: The need for an ethical framework

摘要

This article discusses the need for an ethical framework for emerging robotic technologies. The temptation, arguably driven by sci-fi treatments of artificial intelligence, is to ask whether future robots should be considered quasi-humans. This article argues that such sci-fi scenarios have little relevance for current technological developments in robotics, nor for ethical approaches to the subject: for the foreseeable future robots will merely be useful tools. In response to emerging robotic technologies, this article proposes an ethical framework that makes a commitment to human rights, human dignity and responsibility a central priority for those developing robots. At a policy level, this entails (1) assessing whether the use of particular robots would result in human rights violations and (2) creating adequate institutions through which human individuals can be held responsible for what robots do.