CMU Researchers on the Future of Work in Cities, Ethics in Autonomous Vehicles

Metro21 researchers are not the only faculty at CMU with societal change in mind: Tae Wan Kim and John Hooker of the Tepper School of Business are looking at the intersection of technology and ethics in their recent paper, “Truly Autonomous Machines are Ethical.” [pdf] As researchers race to develop the latest and greatest in autonomous machines, the public has been more reticent to embrace change. The authors highlight fears of losing control of the machines in an increasingly embedded world. In Pittsburgh, where smart cities and emerging mobility questions arise with the increase of autonomous machines on roadways, public input is tremendously important for the implementation of new technologies. The idea of respecting the autonomy of others, humans and machines alike, is a concern that the public feels could spiral out of control as robots begin to oppress humans. Hooker and Kim relate these fears to the idea of an autonomous vehicle as an independent, thinking agent with the ability to harm others without the understanding of responsibility.

More broadly, the question of responsibility for injury, job loss, and other macro effects have been the subject of Tae Wan Kim’s other papers, including “Technological Unemployment, Meaning of Life, Purpose of business, and the Future of Stakeholders,” [pdf] and “Gamification of Labor and the Charge of Exploitation.” [pdf] Both works explore the imperative for partnerships between researchers, governments, and private enterprise to exist as a mechanism of ensuring ethical transformations of social arrangements in cities and beyond.