Can a robot deceive humans?

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated whether a robot is able to deceive a human by producing a behavior against him/her prediction. A feeling of being deceived by a robot would be a strong indicator that the human treat the robot as an intentional entity. We conducted a psychological experiment in which a subject played Darumasan ga Koronda, a Japanese children's game, with a robot. A main strategy to deceive a subject was to make his/her mind believe that the robot is stupid so as not to be able to move quickly. The experimental result indicated that unexpected change of a robot behavior gave rise to an impression of being deceived by the robot.