Noe Noe Hnin Waddy
As the use of robots or highly intelligent devices has become a hot topic in our society these days, I like to wonder who is responsible for the consequences of this development.
Technology has provided tools to make our lives easier but also brought more complexities. Everything we do is either directly or indirectly related to technology. The latest advancement in technology is the robots. With no doubt, the development of robots has brought up moral dilemma for us to consider. The question is who should be held accountable for the consequences of the development of robots. In the following, useful application of AI to several tasks in our modern world are mentioned and its implications society has to face are discussed.
P.S. Here, “Robots” refer to any AI employed autonomous devices.
Useful applications of Robots
Artificial Intelligence enables machines to perform tasks like humans do. Some jobs are repetitive and boring for people, so robots can do what the humans do not want to. Self-driving cars for goods shipping on highways require little to no human input, and drivers for possible assistance on trucks can rest during long-hour drive. Using robots in a dangerous and hazardous workplace can reduce risk of injury of human workers. In rural and deserted areas, with little to no transportation, drones can easily supply necessary aids, food and medical supplies to the local communities. According to Dr. Mintchev, we can also advance our SDG progress with bioinspired robots. Small bioinspired robots have been employed to monitor and survey biodiversity in our complex environments with adaptability and versatility. With thoughtful and ethical development of this technology, robots can stay to support our transition towards a more sustainable society.
Figure 1: Bioinspired micro-drones (Luca et al., 2020)
Robots are attractive to industries from all sectors as they reduce labor expenses. Cheap or forced labor can now be replaced by machinery to increase production and improve labor quality. Moreover, humanoid AI robots can provide a form of companionship for the elderly’s and people who live by themselves, but they cannot be a babysitter for instance. Even though robots can be engineered to show compassion, empathy, and other human emotions, at the end of the day, it is all artificial and will not fulfil the role of doctors, lawyers, teachers or even chefs. So, what I would like to imply here is that robots are suitable for certain machinery tasks since they are machines.
The responsible one…
Autonomous devices and robots in processing work have reduced human jobs. This is the negative implication of using robots. Regarding this issue, two contrasting ideas on who is to be held accountable in my opinion are either the owners of an industry or the robots themselves. Robots are put into existence by human beings, they are doing what they are programed to do, thus, to use or not to use robots for labor is the choice of the owner of an industry. On the other hand, without the existence of autonomous devices (robots, self-driving cars, drones, etc.), humans would not lose their jobs, thus the moral agency accountable for these negative implications should involve both humans and robots. The answer depends on what we define as a moral agent.
The conditions for a subject to be defined as a moral agent include intentionality and freedom (Verbeek, 2008). Both these conditions are hybrid phenomena. So, what is our perception of intentionality and freedom? For sure, robots do not have intentions and freedom as we humans do. This does not mean they can entirely be excluded from the realm of freedom and intentionality. According to (Verbeek, 2008), human freedom in decision making is never absolute, but always related to technology. Technology is an active mediator for human beings to form decisions and experience things. These technological artifacts help direct human actions; thus, we can say robots have material form of intentionality. Robots have acquired human-like characteristics physically and mentally. Most advanced humanoid robots can now have spontaneous chats with humans using their own logics and voluntary facial expressions which they have learnt by screening humans’ behaviors (Spark, 2021). This may be a glimpse of future where robots will be on the same level as humans in the conceptualization of moral agency.
Figure 2: Humanoid AI expressing human-like thinking behaviour (Healty-sync, 2022)
To conclude…
I personally agree with the hybrid concept of moral agency within humans and robots. Due to the development of robots, people have to lose their jobs, and thanks to robots, high-risk tasks can be carried out effortlessly. So, the moral agency should include robots as well. We cannot ignore the fact that they are vastly helping us in many aspects of our life. We could even build these helpful robots from reusing all the e-wastes we have produced globally. Robots bring more efficiency and accuracy in the roles they are assigned to. We have to realize that humans are not losing their jobs, but just that humans are figuring out how to do their jobs better with the help of robots. Thus, the development of robots is not a completely bad thing after all. Our future can become the greater mix of human and non-human elements – humans, algorithms, automation, and robots.
References
Di Luca, S. Mintchev, Y. Su, E. Shaw, and K. Breuer, “A bioinspired Separated Flow wing provides turbulence resilience and aerodynamic efficiency for miniature drones,” Sci. Robot., 2020.
Healty-sync (2022). ROBOTS AND HUMAN HEALTH – Healty-sync.com health in 2022 | Himalayan salt. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2022, from https://www.healty-sync.com/2020/02/robots-and-human-health.html
Spark. (2021, April 3). Machines designed to imitate human behaviour | Future human A.I. | Spark [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI7WkS8wnRw
Verbeek PP. (2008) Morality in Design: Design Ethics and the Morality of Technological Artifacts. In: Philosophy and Design. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6591-0_7