AI & Robotics

As technology advances it is clear that robots too are advancing in their ability to do what humans can do. According to the article Would you take orders from a robot? a survey was done to see if people would complete the tasks assigned if they were taking orders from a robot and 46% completed them even though they complained they still did what the robot asked. Some psychologists interviewed suggested this was due to the fact that humans are raised to obey orders. I think this and other factors can play some role in the response but it is still alarming that so many didn't just walk away from the robot.

Another article When robots kill who is to blame  talks about the fact that military funding is behind almost all robotic research whether the scientists want to admit it or not. Robots can be given a kill list and be programmed to kill based upon their own decisions. This reminds me of the movie Elysium where an elite group of humans programmed robots to control other humans and make decision that affected their lives. The idea of a robot having autonomy is frightening. The military should not be controlling our future and advancing technology to suit their needs they should be looking for alternatives to war.

Since humans are the ones who program robots they are definitely responsible for the errors or decisions that the robots would make. Even though their are jobs that robots would be well suited for that would greatly benefit humans we need to take a very careful look at the motivations of the research and use these advances to benefit society. Terminating a robot because it killed someone by mistake does not bring that person back and does not punish the person who designed it to kill in the first place.