Ethical implications of intelligent robots

Abstract

The ethical challenges of robot development were dramatically thrust onto center stage with Asimov’s book I, Robot in 1950, where the three “Laws of Robotics” first appeared in a short story. The “laws” assume that robots are (or will be) capable of perception and reasoning and will have intelligence comparable to a child, if not better, and in addition that they will remain subservient to humans. Thus, the first law reads: