An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea.
The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007.
It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer.
Kudos to them for, later in the piece, mentioning Isaac Asimov’s famous Three Laws of Robotics (here they are, for those poor souls who may not have read any of Asimov’s robot stories):
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence, except where such protection would conflict with the First or Second Law.
But never mind the technological implications. Inquiring minds want to know: who is the science fiction writer?
(And as an aside, if robots achieve artificial intelligence, Ethics for Robots could be the title of a book in a whole new series, like the Dummies books: Gardening for Robots, Human Psychology for Robots, Musical Theatre for Robots, World Domination for Robots, etc.)
1 comments
Well, as far as I know, anyone can become a member of IEEE.
http://www.roboethics.org/ieee_ras_tc/membership.php