Artificial Intelligence Research Assignment Paper

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Social, Moral and Ethical Impact of Artificial Intelligence
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence is a term coined by John Mc Carthy in 1956 is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines such as computer programs CITATION Rod07 \l 1033 (Fennell). Artificial intelligence has also been defined as the study and design of intelligent agents. It is a branch of computer science that is perceived to be futuristic and likely to revolutionize computing and human interaction. Most tech giants are in the race to be forerunners in this ground-breaking technology whose growth prospects are untapped. However, artificial intelligence raises concerns about the moral and ethical issues it raises. Some people are concerned that intelligent machines will ‘colonize and enslave’ humanity. Currently, no intelligent agent that has posed a threat to humanity or shown to possess equal computing power that matches human brain though remarkable progress has been made. AI has been described to be the substantive alternative to human intelligence and intellectual capacity and therefore soon or later intelligent machines will have the matching intelligence to humans if not higher. This is a moral issue that has threatened many tech-phobic people. Some people are concerned with how artificially intelligent machines will interact with humans. They are concerned about the rights of these machines and their fears on colonizing and enslaving humanity cannot be dispelled. This has raised concerns about the impact these agents will have on our economy, i.e., jobs, social interactions, morality, and ethics. As artificial intelligence develops, it is imperative that their goals and objectives are closely aligned with human values, morality, and ethical principles.
Roboticists and pro-artificial intelligence individuals believe that in the foreseeable future robots will be sentient and conscious of their existence. The ability to perceive and have feelings is a disputable predicate, but recent developments have shown that humanoids can actually judge if someone is happy, sad or tired. The inbuilt functionalities which enable these humanoids to perceive our feelings can be developed to make robots have feelings themselves. Ethical issues surrounding sentient beings may require legal recognition and lead to the birth of robots’ rights. If humans perceive robots to possess a conscience, will they be eligible for robots’ rights? That means humans can be punished or jailed for violating robot rights. For example, is a robot deploys a drone that kills people without human intervention. The moral question is whether humans should place another human life at the discretion of a machine to determine who lives or dies whether for the greater good or not.
Additionally, robots will be able to sue a human over violation of their rights. If the robots are the ones violating human rights, they will have to be punished for their mistakes. The judicial system is designed and structured to offer justice, and therefore if the robots are punished or even destroyed, humans can still have a feeling that justice was not served because robots cannot accurately feel the pain of a human CITATION Yos09 \l 1033 (Bar-Cohen and Hanson). Thus, the legal system will have a challenging task to strike a balance between the needs and rights of a robot and the needs and rights of humans. Human democracy will the threatened by the sentience of robots as they will seek to be integrated into our ecosystem. Many people have expressed their concern over this and uphold their stance that robots are and must remain to machine no matter their intellectual capacity. They cannot have a soul, and therefore their sentience should not be recognized. Humans should be left to dispose robots at their discretion just as they dispose fridge and TV sets on the streets when their usability expires.
The other burning issue about recognition of robots is when they make a choice that terminates the life or hurts a human being. Many people have tried to teach robots to replicate human reasoning and decision-making process, but hitherto, robots are as dumb as the algorithms coded into them. Though algorithms mediate some social processes, human logic and reasoning cannot be replicated by algorithmsCITATION Bre16 \l 1033 (Mittelstadt, Allo and Taddeo). Human reasoning, emotions, and morality are as a result of millions of years of evolution which has given humans a survival edge. Therefore, when robots make a decision that endangers or harms a human life or any other sentient being, who should be held accountable for their actions? The robot owners can argue that the robot came with a prefabricated software that aids it in learning not decision-making, the robot itself might have run in a conundrum while making a decision on how to handle a particular situation. The robot makers can argue that the algorithms are based on universally accepted moral principles, and therefore they are not liable for the actions of the robot. Such complex legal battles to serve justice to the victim can be impeded by the inability to point out who is responsible accurately. It is undoubtedly obvious that robots will make such decisions and they will be open to public criticism and because ...