Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
An 'Ethical Black Box' For Robots?
The idea that robots should be equipped with an "ethical black box" that would enable scientists to check their ethical decision-making has been floated by researchers at a conference at the University of Surrey.
“Serious accidents will need investigating, but what do you do if an accident investigator turns up and discovers there is no internal datalog, no record of what the robot was doing at the time of the accident? It’ll be more or less impossible to tell what happened,” Winfield said.
“The reason commercial aircraft are so safe is not just good design, it is also the tough safety certification processes and, when things do go wrong, robust and publicly visible processes of air accident investigation,” the researchers write in a paper to be presented at the Surrey meeting.
The introduction of ethical black boxes would have benefits beyond accident investigation. The same devices could provide robots – elderly care assistants, for example – with the ability to explain their actions in simple language, and so help users to feel comfortable with the technology.
Science fiction great Arthur C. Clarke explored this idea in the excellent 1984 novel 2010 (which was also made into a movie), his sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In the movie, Dr. Chandra, the creator of the HAL 9000 artificial intelligence computer, returns to the spaceship Discovery, now orbiting Jupiter, to determine the reason for the ethical lapse that causes HAL to kill astronaut Frank Poole.
Winfield and Marina Jirotka, professor of human-centred computing at Oxford University, argue that robotics firms should follow the example set by the aviation industry, which brought in black boxes and cockpit voice recorders so that accident investigators could understand what caused planes to crash and ensure that crucial safety lessons were learned. Installed in a robot, an ethical black box would record the robot’s decisions, its basis for making them, its movements, and information from sensors such as cameras, microphones and rangefinders.
(Dr. Chandra explains HAL's apparent ethical lapse)
Even though 2010 was just a movie, and Hal is a science-fictional computer, it illustrates why a simple list of instructions executed may not fully explicate what happened. This problem will be exacerbated by the fact that AI computers of the near future will rely heavily on deep learning techniques that work, but are poorly understood.
(Machine Learning at XKCD)
You might also be interested in this article Can You Give A Robot A Conscience? which explores similar themes. The discussion with the SAL 9000 computer (see embedded video) is also revealing. Also, see Machine Ethics With Prospective Logic, which discusses the different results that can be reached by "moral" systems.
Via The Guardian.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/28/2017)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?' - Philip K. Dick, 1954
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...' - Isaac Asimov, 1942.
Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar
What's YOUR sarcasm setting?
Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin
'I am a cybernetic organism...' - Terminator, 1984.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Chaffeur Robot Musashi Will Drive Your Regular Car
'What would you do,' Eric asked the robot cabdriver, 'if your wife had turned to stone, your best friend were a toad, and you had lost your job?'
Space Exporers! Now, You Can Drink Your Own Urine
'those suits they wear -- call them 'stillsuits' -- that reclaim the body's own water...'
SpaceX EVA Spacesuit Tested By Polaris Dawn Crew
'Now, except for weight and heat, the same conditions prevail in this chamber as in space.'
Automatic Bot Traffic Is 38 Percent Of HTTP Requests
'there were so many worms and counterworms loose in the data-net...'
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...'
Desktop TARS Robot From Interstellar
What's YOUR sarcasm setting?
Robots Can Now Have Smiling Faces With Human Skin
'I am a cybernetic organism...'
Virtual Rat Predicts Actual Rat Neural Activity
'..the synthetic intellects at the Place of Knowledge had far outstripped the minds of men.'
GoSun EV Solar Charger Drapes Onto Your Car
'...six square yards of sunpower screens.'
Rizon 4 Ironing Robot
'But after washing and drying clothes had to be smooth - free from fine lines and wrinkles ...'
Cognify - A Prison Of The Mind We've Seen Before In SF
'So I serve a hundred years in one day...'
Robot With Human Brain Organoid - 'A Thrilling Story Of Mechanistic Progress'
'A human brain snugly encased in a transparent skull-shaped receptacle.'
Goodness Gracious Me! Google Tries Face Recognition Security
'The actuating mechanism that should have operated by the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell...'
With Mycotecture, We'll Just Grow The Space Habitats We Need
'The only real cost was in the plastic balloon that guided the growth of the coral and enclosed the coral's special air-borne food.'
Can A Swarm Of Deadly Drones Take Out An Aircraft Carrier?
'The border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
WiFi and AI Team Up To See Through Walls
'The pitiless M rays pierced Earth and steel and densest concrete as if they were so much transparent glass...'
