Tracing Moral Agency in Robot Behavior

Abstract

As robots become more common in human society, they will increasingly encounter situations in which their decisions have a moral dimension. It is critical that these robots emulate moral human beings, specifically to avoid actions that would be considered immoral. But should robots be considered moral agents in and of themselves? In this technical note, we argue that robots in their current and near-future form should not be viewed as moral agents. We outline conceptual elements of the process of tracing robot behaviors to human moral agents, with illustrations from the domain of military robotics, where moral considerations are especially important.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2018
Accession Number
AD1052285

Entities

People

  • Maryanne Fields
  • Ralph Brewer
  • Robert St. Amant

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Autonomous Systems
  • Civilian Personnel
  • Cognition
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Ethics
  • Explosives
  • Military Operations
  • Pattern Recognition
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Reasoning
  • Robotics
  • Training
  • Unmanned Ground Systems
  • Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • Autonomy