UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
		 COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

			      presents

	      "Ethical Issues in Human-Robot Interaction
			- A Call to Action"

			   Dr. Blay Whitby
			 (COGS Research Group,
			 University of Sussex)


		       23 January 2008 (Wednesday)

			  Lecture Theatre E350
		       Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			       3 - 4 pm

	       Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available.

		    Everyone is Welcome to Attend



Abstract:

This talk is a call for informed debate on the ethical issues raised by
the forthcoming widespread use of robots, particularly in domestic
settings. Research shows that humans can sometimes become very abusive
towards computers and robots particularly when they are seen as
humanlike. This human tendency may raise some important ethical
issues.

To give a starting point for such debate, designers of robotic systems
need to take an ethical stance with respect to three specific issues.
Firstly, do we consider it acceptable to treat artefacts - particularly
fairly human-like artefacts - in ways that we would consider it morally
unacceptable to treat humans? Second, if so, just how much sexual or
violent 'abuse' of an artificial agent should we allow? Even though the
artefact itself may have no moral significance, at some point we may
need to censure the behaviour of the abuser.

The third ethical problem results from the natural inclination of
interface designers to attempt 'design out' any abusive behaviour by
users. It is possible for this to result in systems that are so
extremely forgiving and compliant that users subsequently find it
difficult to handle the more uncertain and difficult demands of
human-to-human interactions.

It will be argued that ethical conclusions on these and related issues
should be used to modify professional codes as a matter of urgency.


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Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq