Since the industrial revolution, technology has been making our lives easier. While everything was mechanical and required a human operator the onus of responsibility and blame in the event of an accident or mishap lie squarely with either the operator or the inventor. But what if the technology is automated as it increasingly becoming. That’s a legal and ethical minefield that needs dealing with sooner rather than later.

Automated technology and robots are becoming an increasingly important and everyday part of our lives. This technology can range from automated production lines in factories, elements of driving a car such as anti-lock braking and self-parking, to robots designed to kill for military purposes. And pretty much everything in-between.

The problem is who to blame in case something goes wrong. Is it the machine’s fault, the inventor’s fault, or the manufacturer’s fault? Even before you can ask that question you have to figure out what the automated technology actually is. If it’s a machine that’s one thing, but if it’s a robotic person with rights and responsibilities that’s quite another.

It may sound like science fiction and more befitting a Hollywood movies but it’s an issue that needs dealing with now before I, Robot becomes a reality. The British Royal Academy of Engineering is proposing we debate and regulate these issues now before it’s too late. The RAE recently published a report entitled ‘Autonomous Systems: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues’ in an attempt to spark that debate.

Professor Will Stewart, a fellow of the Academy and report co-author Chris Elliott eloquently argue the case for this debate to occur:

If a robot surgeon is actually better than a human one, most times you’re going to be better off with a robot surgeon. But occasionally it might do something that a human being would never be so stupid as to do. It is fundamentally a big issue that we think the public ought to think through before we start trying to imprison a truck.

At this point in time there is no legal framework in place to deal with the aftermath of a death or injury caused by a robot or piece of automated technology going wrong. And that clearly needs to be addressed before an incident which qualifies occurs.

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Entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 7:15 pm under Opinion, Science and technology, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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