 Programmed to do good: The categorical imperative as a key to moral behavior of social robotsMatthias Fink, Daniela Maresch and Johannes Gartner Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2023, vol. 196, issue C Abstract: Social robots—such as autonomous vehicles, service robots, or healthcare robots—are designed to support tasks in a broad range of human activities. However, these robots face moral dilemmas because they must make decisions that may do good for one human but potentially inflict harm on another. We argue that Kant's categorical imperative provides a framework for algorithm-based moral decision-making. By systematically addressing ethical concerns from the outset in the development of the algorithms that steer social robots, their designers can help ensure that such robots promote the well-being of individuals, communities, and society. We conclude that those involved in the development of social robots need to embed ethics into their design and functioning. The solutions to the ethical dilemmas we advance in this paper can help improve the adoption and impact of social robots. The presented insights contribute to research, practice, and policy. Keywords: Social robots; Ethical dilemmas; Categorical imperative; Algorithms; Societal impact (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:196:y:2023:i:c:s004016252300478x DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122793 Access Statistics for this article Technological Forecasting and Social Change is currently edited by Fred Phillips More articles in Technological Forecasting and Social Change from Elsevier |
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