The ethics of robots

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry and a prolific author of science fiction and science books, introduced what is known as "The Three Laws of Robotics" in his short story "Runaround" - the first story in the collection I, Robot, 1942. The three laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

He added another law, which precedes the first three:

0. A robot may not harm humanity or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

Today robots of all kinds are part of business, manufacturing, medical care, and almost all areas of society, so having a focus on ethical guidelines is even more important than when Asimov wrote his stories.

The problem with these laws today, however, is that they focus on the behavior of the robot -- instead of the behavior of the robotics engineer.

In considering the ethics of robots and robotics, there must also be a focus on the laws that are in place to ensure ethical behavior on the part of the engineers designing and building robots. However, it seems that laws have not yet advanced to the level of the robotics systems being built.

These considerations are the focus of a talk called "Robotics and the Law," given by Kate Darling, a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab. The talk is part of the Lightning Presentations available on FORA-TV.

The video (7:14): http://fora.tv/2013/11/20/Lightning_Presentations_Round_2

I wrote about FORA-TV in my blog of 3 November 2013 ("Great source of videos for the classroom") as an excellent source of short videos about many technical and engineering topics - as well as other topic areas.

The areas she focuses on in the video, which she calls the 3 issues, are:

• safety
• privacy
• social issues

In class discussions about this talk, my students have agreed that these three issues are also relevant to all the areas of engineering they could think of. So there's a lot of material here for the classroom.

Kate Darling

Kate Darling is an extremely interesting speaker - not only is she lively and well-spoken, but she is also passionate about her topic. And it shows. On the website "about.me," her description heading is: Mistress of Machines. Robot Ethics. Intellectual Property.

The description of her says:

"Research Specialist at MIT Media Lab. Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Yale Information Society Project. Survived law school. Holds a doctorate in sciences. Passionate about the near-term societal impact of robotic technology, rethinking copyright and patent law, and caffeinated beverages."

http://about.me/katedarling

My students love this description, since it makes her sound very human, and very interesting.