Robot Ethics 2.0: From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence

The robot population is rising on Earth and other planets. (Mars is inhabited entirely by robots.) As robots slip into more domains of human life–from the operating room to the bedroom–they take on our morally important tasks and decisions, as well as create new risks from psychological to physical. This makes it all the more urgent to study their ethical, legal, and policy impacts.

To help the robotics industry and broader society, we need to not only press ahead on a wide range of issues, but also identify new ones emerging as quickly as the field is evolving. For instance, where military robots had received much attention in the past (and are still controversial today), this volume looks toward autonomous cars here as an important case study that cuts across diverse issues, from liability to psychology to trust and more. And because robotics feeds into and is fed by AI, the Internet of Things, and other cognate fields, robot ethics must also reach into those domains, too.

Expanding these discussions also means listening to new voices; robot ethics is no longer the concern of a handful of scholars. Experts from different academic disciplines and geographical areas are now playing vital roles in shaping ethical, legal, and policy discussions worldwide. So, for a more complete study, the editors of this volume look beyond the usual suspects for the latest thinking. Many of the views as represented in this cutting-edge volume are provocative–but also what we need to push forward in unfamiliar territory.

Table of Contents

Part I: Moral and Legal Responsibility
Chapter 1. Autonomous Vehicles And Moral Uncertainty
Chapter 2. Ethics Settings For Autonomous Vehicles
Chapter 3. Autonomy And Responsibility In Hybrid Systems: The Example Of Autonomous Cars
Chapter 4. Imputing Driverhood: Applying A Reasonable Driver Standard To Accidents Caused By Autonomous Vehicles
Chapter 5. Liability For Present And Future Robotics Technology
Chapter 6. Skilled Perception, Authenticity, And The Case Against Automation

Part II: Trust and Human–​Robot Interactions
Chapter 7. Could A Robot Care? It’S All In The Movement
Chapter 8. Robot Friends For Autistic Children: Monopoly Money Or Counterfeit Currency?
Chapter 9. Pediatric Robotics And Ethics: The Robot Is Ready To See You Now, But Should It Be Trusted?
Chapter 10. Trust And Human–​Robot Interactions
Chapter 11. White Lies On Silver Tongues: Why Robots Need To Deceive (And How)
Chapter 12. “Who’S Johnny?” Anthropomorphic Framing In Human–​Robot Interaction, Integration, And Policy

Part III: Applications: From Love to War
Chapter 13. Lovotics: Human–​Robot Love And Sex Relationships
Chapter 14. Church-​Turing Lovers
Chapter 15. The Internet Of Things And Dual Layers Of Ethical Concern
Chapter 16. Challenges To Engineering Moral Reasoners: Time And Context
Chapter 17. When Robots Should Do The Wrong Thing
Chapter 18. Military Robots And The Likelihood Of Armed Combat

Part IV: AI and the Future of Robot Ethics
Chapter 19. Testing The Moral Status Of Artificial Beings; Or “I’M Going To Ask You Some Questions …”
Chapter 20. Artificial Identity
Chapter 21. Superintelligence As Superethical
Chapter 22. Artificial Intelligence And The Ethics Of Self-​Learning Robots
Chapter 23. Robots And Space Ethics
Chapter 24. The Unabomber On Robots: The Need For A Philosophy Of Technology Geared Toward Human Ends