Ethics of Robots and Technique

Question: Discuss about the Ethics of Robots and Technique. Answer: In this article Devlin (2016), have presented the recent development regarding the ethics in robots. The ethics of the robots have been formulated by the British Standards Institute,' which comes after the basic guidelines that have been formulated by Isaac Asimov. The document presented in dry language discusses the undesirable scenarios that might pop up due to the usage of the robot in regular lives, such as the deception, addiction and other factors that may be induced by robots. Whats going on? The introduction of the automated machines in the human life has eased many aspects, and this has resulted in the latest innovation in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) (Devlin, 2016). The author here has presented the latest trends in innovation and the ethical standards that have to be incorporated to make the system more human-friendly, to ensure that no harm is done while using the robots. The standards set for the robots aims for transparency that might help in reduction of the contingencies to the user of the robots. What are the facts? The implementations of the robots in human life have become widespread which can be seen in the area of the healthcare, in transportation in the form of autonomous vehicles, etc. so it can be easily understood that we are just a few steps away from robots in normal human life which will take care of every aspect of human needs. And the formulation of the standards for the operation and the ethics of the robots is just the confirmation of the fact (Russell, 2016). Hence robotics is the next big step in the automation of various human actions. What are the issues? It is a known fact that the robots cannot think on their own and are programmed to serve in a specific way. But with the previous programming techniques the responses of the robots were not up to the mark, which gave birth to the advanced techniques such as AI and ANN (Artificial Neural Networks). These provided a mechanism to make the robots learn on their own based on the tasks and the optimal path, which was independent of the programming of the robots, which couldnt predict the behavior of the complicated robots (Devlin, 2016). Who are affected? The application of the automated robots is widespread which ranges from the surgery robots to autonomous cars which will drive the cars instead of the human beings. The robots have to take a complicated decision to sort out the various complications based on the various environmental variables and decide the fate of the patient or the passenger (Katz Halpern, 2014). So anyone who buys the technology or is dependent on the robot will be affected, which is a large mass of people. And will result in unemployment of a large section of people which could lead to unrest o in society (Martin, 2016). What are the ethical issues and their implication? The loss of life or the harm created due to the robotic action is a serious issue and should be treated seriously. Hence the developers have a very difficult constraint of designing something which will take a decision like a human being but cannot harm the human being. The worst part of the latest programming techniques like deep learning,' is the programming is done based on the environment and the outcome and the response to unknown variables is not known which could be disastrous (Sparrow, 2015). It has also been noted that the facial recognition program cant effectively recognize the darker faces thus creating a racial discrimination. What could have been done about it? Automation has become a part of the human life. With the latest machines that have been installed at various locations, life has been simplified. The development of the robots is the net obvious step. The software modeling has been done to rectify the defects of the previous systems but has not succeeded as planned (Sharkey Sharkey, 2012). So the programming and the modeling techniques are evolving every day to make the system more versatile. What are the options? The available options for tackling the situation are: Robots should be totally eliminated from the human life Making robots more intelligent so that the tasks can be well performed Critical decision should be taken away from robots Which option is best and why? The best option among the three is making the robots more intelligent so that the various tasks that are assigned to them are taken care of in an efficient way. This could result in the increased unemployment in the traditional sector but staffs can be trained to take up the other sector based on the needs and will also ensure that the world moves towards a better future. References Devlin, H. (2016). Do no harm, don't discriminate: official guidance issued on robot ethics. The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/18/official-guidance-robot-ethics-british-standards-institute Katz, J. E., Halpern, D. (2014). Attitudes towards robots suitability for various jobs as affected robot appearance.Behaviour Information Technology,33(9), 941-953. Martin, S. (2016). UN warns that robots will put MILLIONS out of work. Express.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2016, from https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/731282/UN-robots-MILLIONS-out-of-work-unemployed-artificial-intelligence Russell, B. (2016).The impact of science on society. Routledge. Sharkey, A., Sharkey, N. (2012). Granny and the robots: ethical issues in robot care for the elderly.Ethics and Information Technology,14(1), 27-40. Sparrow, R. (2015). Killer Robots: Ethical Issues in the Design of Unmanned Systems for Military Applications. InHandbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(pp. 2965-2983). Springer Netherlands.