SGER: Towards Machine Ethics

SGER：迈向机器伦理

• 批准号: 0500133
• 负责人: Michael Anderson
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Hartford
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-01-01 至 2006-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0500133&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Towards; Machine; Ethics

Research concerning the relationship between technology and ethics has largely focused on responsible and irresponsible use of technology by human beings, with a few people being interested in how human beings ought to treat machines. In all cases, only human beings have engaged in ethical reasoning. The PIs believe the time has come to add an ethical dimension to at least some machines. Recognition of the ethical ramifications of behavior involving machines, and recent and potential developments in machine autonomy, necessitate this. In this project, the PIs will explore this dimension through investigation of what has been called machine ethics, which (in contrast to computer hacking, software property issues, privacy issues and other topics normally ascribed to computer ethics) is concerned with the consequences of behavior of machines towards human users and other machines. Clearly, relying on machine intelligence to effect change in the world without some restraint can be dangerous. Until fairly recently, the ethical impact of a machine's actions has either been negligible (e.g., a calculator) or, when considerable, has only been taken under the supervision of a human operator (e.g., robotic automobile assembly). As we increasingly rely upon machine intelligence with reduced human supervision, we will need to be able to count on a certain level of ethical behavior from them. And as machines are given more responsibility, an equal measure of accountability for their actions must be meted out to them if we are to avoid undesirable machine behavior. In this project, the PIs will implement prototype systems in limited domains, one that incorporates an ethical dimension to its advantage, and another that learns weights of competing duties to the end of providing a decision procedure for an ethical theory. The PIs hope these investigations will sharpen their understanding of the field, so that they can compose a well-argued position paper that clarifies the objectives of and answers objections to machine ethics, as a first step towards dealing with an issue that has been of concern since the beginning of the 20th century but has seen little serious scientific effort. Broader Impacts: The PIs will develop a machine ethics website, and will organize a AAAI Machine Ethics symposium tentatively planned for fall 2005. The outcomes of this research will contribute to the development of autonomous intelligent agents that could be used to replace human effort in many subservient, dangerous, or undesirable tasks. In the longer run, an ethical dimension in machines could be used to alert humans who rely on machines before they do something that is ethically questionable, averting harm that might have been caused otherwise. Such capabilities might be harnessed to assist us in ethical decision-making; machine-machine relationships might also benefit, in that the new capabilities could provide a basis for resolving resource conflicts or predicting behavior of other machines. Perhaps most importantly, the behavior of more fully autonomous machines, guided by an ethical dimension, might be more socially acceptable in real-world environments than that of machines without such a dimension.

关于技术与伦理之间关系的研究主要集中在人类对技术的负责任和不负责任的使用上，少数人对人类应该如何对待机器感兴趣。 在所有情况下，只有人类参与了伦理推理。 PI认为，现在是时候为至少一些机器添加道德维度了。 认识到涉及机器的行为的道德后果，以及机器自主性的最近和潜在发展，都需要这样做。 在这个项目中，PI将通过调查所谓的机器伦理来探索这个维度，机器伦理（与计算机黑客，软件产权问题，隐私问题和其他通常归因于计算机伦理的主题相反）关注机器对人类用户和其他机器的行为后果。 显然，依靠机器智能不加限制地改变世界可能是危险的。 直到最近，机器行为的道德影响要么可以忽略不计（例如，计算器），或者当相当大时，仅在操作人员的监督下进行（例如，机器人汽车装配）。 随着我们越来越依赖机器智能，减少人类的监督，我们将需要能够指望他们一定程度的道德行为。 随着机器被赋予更多的责任，如果我们要避免不受欢迎的机器行为，就必须对它们的行为承担同等程度的责任。 在这个项目中，PI将在有限的领域中实现原型系统，一个领域将道德维度纳入其优势，另一个领域将学习竞争责任的权重，以最终为道德理论提供决策程序。 PI希望这些调查将加深他们对该领域的理解，以便他们能够撰写一份有充分论证的立场文件，澄清机器伦理学的目标并回答反对意见，作为处理自20世纪世纪以来一直受到关注但几乎没有认真科学努力的问题的第一步。 更广泛的影响：PI将开发一个机器伦理网站，并将组织一个AAAI机器伦理研讨会，暂定于2005年秋季。 这项研究的成果将有助于自主智能代理的发展，这些智能代理可用于在许多从属，危险或不受欢迎的任务中取代人类的努力。 从长远来看，机器中的道德维度可以用来警告依赖机器的人，在他们做一些道德上有问题的事情之前，避免否则可能造成的伤害。 这样的能力可能会被用来帮助我们做出道德决策;机器与机器的关系也可能受益，因为新的能力可以为解决资源冲突或预测其他机器的行为提供基础。 也许最重要的是，在道德维度的指导下，更完全自主的机器的行为在现实世界环境中可能比没有这种维度的机器更容易被社会接受。