Limitations and risks of machine ethics

Many authors have proposed constraining the behaviour of intelligent systems with 'machine ethics' to ensure positive social outcomes from the development of such systems. This paper critically analyses the prospects for machine ethics, identifying several inherent limitations. While machi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of experimental & theoretical artificial intelligence Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 355 - 372
Main Author Brundage, Miles
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Taylor & Francis 03.07.2014
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Agents (artificial intelligence)
artificial general intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Complexity
Computation
Constraining
Ethics
Expert systems
Intelligent systems
machine ethics
Risk
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN0952-813X
1362-3079
DOI10.1080/0952813X.2014.895108

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Summary:Many authors have proposed constraining the behaviour of intelligent systems with 'machine ethics' to ensure positive social outcomes from the development of such systems. This paper critically analyses the prospects for machine ethics, identifying several inherent limitations. While machine ethics may increase the probability of ethical behaviour in some situations, it cannot guarantee it due to the nature of ethics, the computational limitations of computational agents and the complexity of the world. In addition, machine ethics, even if it were to be 'solved' at a technical level, would be insufficient to ensure positive social outcomes from intelligent systems.
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ISSN:0952-813X
1362-3079
DOI:10.1080/0952813X.2014.895108