Attributing Agency to Automated Systems: Reflections on Human–Robot Collaborations and Responsibility-Loci

Abstract

Many ethicists writing about automated systems (e.g. self-driving cars and autonomous weapons systems) attribute agency to these systems. Not only that; they seemingly attribute an autonomous or independent form of agency to these machines. This leads some ethicists to worry about responsibility-gaps and retribution-gaps in cases where automated systems harm or kill human beings. In this paper, I consider what sorts of agency it makes sense to attribute to most current forms of automated systems, in particular automated cars and military robots. I argue that whereas it indeed makes sense to attribute different forms of fairly sophisticated agency to these machines, we ought not to regard them as acting on their own, independently of any human beings. Rather, the right way to understand the agency exercised by these machines is in terms of human–robot collaborations, where the humans involved initiate, supervise, and manage the agency of their robotic collaborators. This means, I argue, that there is much less room for justified worries about responsibility-gaps and retribution-gaps than many ethicists think.

Artificial Intelligence and Patient-Centered Decision-Making

“…For some of the issues concerning responsibility in AI-informed decision making, seeCalo (2015),Danaher (2016),Floridi et al (2018),Nyholm (2018), and Price (2017).…”

The ethics of crashes with self‐driving cars: A roadmap, II

“…After all, humans set self‐driving cars' goals (e.g., going to the grocery store). Humans update them when they are not happy with their performance or simply stop using them if they do not live up to our expectations (Nyholm, forthcoming). In these ways, we can understand self‐driving cars as working for us.…”

“…In these ways, we can understand self‐driving cars as working for us. And we can be understood as having power over them (Nyholm, forthcoming; cf. Pettit, ).…”

“…In particular, my suggestion is that we should draw on hierarchical models of collaborative agency, where some agents within the collaborations are under other agents' supervision and authority. People can be responsible for the apparent agency of automated cars precisely for the reason that they are supervisors, managers, or some other type of authority figures in relation to the cars (Nyholm, forthcoming).…”

“…For example, there is the capacity to pursue goals in a way that is sensitive to representations of the environment. That is something a self‐driving car is seemingly able to do (Nyholm, forthcoming). Nevertheless, I agree with writers like Brey and Purves et al that there are other dimensions of human agency that no current types of robots are able to replicate.…”