The Ethics of AI and Robotics

Principle Lead: Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe

Members: PD Dr. Sebastian Knell | Larissa Bolte | Sophia Falk | Dr. Tijs Vandemeulebroucke

The pervasive development and use of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) in the 21st century has brought optimism for progress along with concern for the stewardship of societal values and human rights. The IWE pillar for the ethics of robotics/ai deals with the impact of these technologies on: the lives of individuals, infrastructures and global society. It explores the range of ethical questions pertaining to each stage in the life cycle of robotics/ai, including idea generation, development, usage, and governance. Researchers in this pillar build on conceptual tools from the diverse branches of applied ethics and normative ethics, like ethics of technology, environmental ethics, and care ethics, to name a few.

Publications

(together with Scott Robbins): Our New Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure: Becoming Locked into an Unsustainable Future (2022), in: Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4829
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084829
(together with Larissa Bolte and Tijs Vandemeulebroucke): From an Ethics of Carefulness to an Ethics of Desirability: Going Beyond Current Ethics Approaches to Sustainable AI (2022), in: Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4472
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084472
Sustainable AI: AI for sustainability and the sustainability of AI »opinion paper«, 26. Februar 2021, Bonn (online)
(together with Scott Robbins): Critiquing the Reasons for Making Artificial Moral Agents (2018), in: Science and Engineering Ethics 25 (2019), 719–735.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-018-0030-8334
(together with Justin Donhauser): The Dawning of the Ethics of Environmental Robots (2017), in: Science and Engineering Ethics 24 (2018), 1777–1800.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-017-9990-34
Service robots, care ethics, and design (2016), in: Ethics and Information Technology 18 (2016), 311–321.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-016-9409-x5
Designing Robots for Care: Care Centered Value-Sensitive Design (2013), in: Science and Engineering Ethics 19 (2013), 407–433.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-011-9343-66
(together with Scott Robbins): Ethicist as Designer: A Pragmatic Approach to Ethics in the Lab (2014), in: Science and Engineering Ethics 20 (2014), 947–961.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-013-9498-47
Healthcare Robots – Ethics, Design and Implementation (Ashgate, 2015)
Link: https://www.routledge.com/products/isbn/97814724443328
(together with Chris Gastmans): Telesurgery: An Ethical Appraisal (2008), in: Journal of Medical Ethics 34(10), e22
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jme.2007.023952