Ethical issues in service robotics and artificial intelligence

ABSTRACT

As we come to increasingly rely on robotic and Artificial Intelligence technologies, there are a growing number of ethical concerns to be considered by both service providers and consumers. This review concentrates on five such issues: (1) ubiquitous surveillance, (2) social engineering, (3) military robots, (4) sex robots, and (5) transhumanism. With the partial exception of transhumanism, all of these areas of AI and robotic service interaction already present ethical issues in practice. But all five areas will raise additional concerns in the future as these technologies develop further. These issues have serious consequences and it is imperative to research and address them now. I outline the relevant literatures that can guide this research. The paper fills a gap in recent work on AI and robotics in services. It expands views of service contexts involving robotics and AI, with important implications for public policy and applications of service technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Robotics
• artificial intelligence
• ethics
• social engineering
• surveillance
• military robots
• sex robots
• transhumanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).