Robots of good character: equipping robots with moral competency
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Who this event is for
Location
John Henry Brookes Main Lecture Theatre, John Henry Brookes Building, Headington Campus
Details
Professor Nigel Crook will explore whether we can build
robots that have good moral character – and whether or not
we should. He will broadly outline some existing approaches
to building ‘autonomous moral machines’ and offer his own
thoughts on what should be the key components to such
machines.
The idea of robots being able to make decisions based on
a form of moral code has been around longer than robots
themselves. Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, which
include an over-riding command to avoid harming humans,
first appeared in his 1942 short-story Runaround. But reality
is finally catching up with science-fiction and the creation
of robots with moral competency is now a tantalising
possibility.
Nigel will discuss how it may become a necessity as robots
become increasingly autonomous, intelligent and complex.