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Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong

Online ISBN:
9780199871889
Print ISBN:
9780195374049
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong

Colin Allen
Colin Allen

Professor of History & Philosophy of Science and of Cognitive Science

Indiana University
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Published online:
1 January 2009
Published in print:
1 February 2009
Online ISBN:
9780199871889
Print ISBN:
9780195374049
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

The human‐built environment is increasingly being populated by artificial agents that, through artificial intelligence (AI), are capable of acting autonomously. The software controlling these autonomous systems is, to‐date, “ethically blind” in the sense that the decision‐making capabilities of such systems does not involve any explicit moral reasoning. The title Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong refers to the need for these increasingly autonomous systems (robots and software bots) to become capable of factoring ethical and moral considerations into their decision making. The new field of inquiry directed at the development of artificial moral agents is referred to by a number of names including machine morality, machine ethics, roboethics, or artificial morality. Engineers exploring design strategies for systems sensitive to moral considerations in their choices and actions will need to determine what role ethical theory should play in defining control architectures for such systems.

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