Robot Ethics
Illah Nourbakhsh, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Robotics is advancing rapidly through categories of human capability, and pundits on all sides are debating the robot futures we may face: existential threat (Elon Musk, Bill Gates), or bringer of the Age of Plenty (Hans Moravec, Kurzweil) or robber of human jobs (McAfee, Summers) or transition to a new work style (Larry Page)? My remarks in this talk will center on how the Singularity, chronic underemployment and popular rhetoric shape the conversation regarding robot futures, and where ethical considerations arise in the near future as our robots continue to develop and proliferate. This talk is a hybridization of responses to recent punditry and ideas originally promulgated in my MIT Press book, Robot Futures.