Social robot deception and the culture of trust

Abstract

Human beings are deeply social, and both evolutionary traits and cultural constructs encourage cooperation based on trust. Social robots interject themselves in human social settings, and they can be used for deceptive purposes. Robot deception is best understood by examining the effects of deception on the recipient of deceptive actions, and I argue that the long-term consequences of robot deception should receive more attention, as it has the potential to challenge human cultures of trust and degrade the foundations of human cooperation. In conclusion: regulation, ethical conduct by producers, and raised general awareness of the issues described in this article are all required to avoid the unfavourable consequences of a general degradation of trust.

Loving robots changing love: Towards a practical deficiency-love

“…I have argued that it might, and this is in line with the notion that robots can be morally disruptive and cause moral revolutions (Danaher, 2020a). Saetra (2021) has similarly argued that deceptive social robots may lead to long term changes in human cooperation and cultures of trust. The current article is a contribution in the same vein, and the cultural and dynamic aspects of cultural phenomena are here elaborated as two potential mechanisms of change.…”

“…By establishing this potential trajectory, I also highlight likely societal implications of such a change, as these become crucial subjects for further research on love and robots. In this context robots are conceived of as culturally disruptive, potentially leading to cultural change and moral revolutions (Danaher, 2020a;Saetra, 2021).…”

Technology and moral change: the transformation of truth and trust

“…It saves us time and effort, allows us to rely on others to get things done, gives us peace of mind, fosters meaningful intimate relationships, and so forth. In a broader perspective, trust undergirds all human sociality (Churchland, 2011;Saetra, 2021b), and trust shapes interactions between strangers in different societies, and the relationships between citizens and their governments. It could be said, then, that trust is the keystone in our broader value system by facilitating productive cooperation and coordination.…”

Deceptive Decision-Making under Uncertainty

“…For example, (Arkin 2018) argues, through an ethical discussion, that deceptive behaviors can hinder the public trust towards robots. The author in (Danaher 2020) presents a categorization to systematically discuss deception ethics, and in (Saetra 2021), the author stresses the need for regulation and ethical conduct by producers to avoid the degradation of public trust towards intelligent systems. We believe that theoretical studies, such as this work, are an important first step for understanding the potential drawbacks of deceptive capabilities in autonomy and developing counter-measures against systems with such capabilities.…”