A human-centered approach to AI ethics: a perspective from cognitive science

Abstract

This chapter explores a human-centered approach to AI and robot ethics. It demonstrates how a human-centered approach can resolve some problems in AI and robot ethics that arise from the fact that AI systems and robots have cognitive states, and yet have no welfare, and are not responsible. In particular, the approach allows that violence toward robots can be wrong even if robots cannot be harmed. More importantly, the approach encourages people to shift away from designing robots as if they were human ethical deliberators. Ultimately, the cognitive states of AI systems and robots may have a role to play in the proper ethical analysis of situations involving them, even if it is not by virtue of conferring welfare or responsibilities on those systems or robots