South Korea To Develop Robot Ethics Charter
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 16 of August , 2007 at 2:19 am
According to some guy named Bill Gates, the robotics industry is on a threshold similar to the one seen in the world of computers 30 years ago. That sure is good news for us here at BotJunkie, but South Korea (who wants “a robot in every home by 2013″) is looking ahead and getting worried about the whole “cybernetic slavery” thing that gets us so excited. So, the South Korean government has decided to draw up a code of ethics by which all robots must abide.
As you might expect (because it’s a government, not because it’s South Korea), at first glance the broad guidelines make things sound like they’re heading for a robot police state: robots must be clearly identifiable and traceable, humans must have access to all data acquired by robots, and military robots aren’t governed by the same rules as civilian robots. Like so many government forays into emerging technology, South Korea has the right idea, but I don’t think they’re giving this a broad enough scope. I’m not saying I know what the proper scope is, but I’m worried that whatever these guidelines turn out to be, for better or worse they’ll become some sort of precedent for future robot legislation by other countries. So, here is my advice to South Korea (since I know they read BotJunkie): be very open minded, be very careful, and listen to the people who have been thinking about this stuff for a long, long time.
VIA [ Physorg ]
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Category: Research
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