Elements of Roboethics

Abstract

AbstractRoboethics analyzes the ethical, legal and social aspects of robotics, especially with regard to advanced robotics applications. These issues are related to liability, the protection of privacy, the defense of human dignity, distributive justice and the dignity of work. Today, roboethics is becoming an important component in international standards for advanced robotics, and in various aspects of artificial intelligence. An autonomous robot endowed with deep learning capabilities shows specificities in terms of its growing autonomy and decision-making functions and, thus, gives rise to new ethical and legal issues. The learning models for a care robot assisting an elderly person or a child must be free of bias related to the selected attributes and should not be subject to any stereotypes unintentionally included in their design. As roboethics goes hand in hand with developments in robotics applications, it should be the concern of all actors in the field, from designers and manufacturers to users. There is one very important element in this—albeit one that is related indirectly—that should not be overlooked: namely, how robotics and robotic applications are represented to the general public. Of the many representations, the legacy of mythology, science fiction and the legend still play an important role. The world of robotics is often marked by icons and images from literature. Exaggerated expectations of their functions, magical descriptions of their behavior, over-anthropomorphization, insistence on their perfection and their rationality compared to that of humans are only some of the false qualities attributed to robotics.