Robotics Reference
In-Depth Information
too the AI humanoid may gradually come to be looked-on in quasi-
human terms as his intellectual powers approach those of human
beings in all their variegated forms—moral, aesthetic, creative, and
logical. [3]
This quotation, from a seminal article on the legal rights and responsibil-
ities of robots by the Israeli political scientist and futurist Sam Lehman-
Wilzig, reads as freshly as though it had been written yesterday. Since
its publication in 1981 nothing has happened in the world of AI, noth-
ing has changed in terms of legal thinking, that would require one sin-
gle word of Lehman-Wilzig's to be rewritten today. Under present law
(2005), robots are just inanimate property without rights or duties. They
are not legal persons and have no standing in the judicial system. As such,
computers and robots may not be the perpetrators of a crime; a man who
dies at the hands of a robot has not been murdered. But in time this may
need to change. Certainly any self-aware robot that speaks a known lan-
guage and is able to recognize moral alternatives, and thus make moral
choices, should be considered a worthy “robot person” in our society.
If that is so, should they not also possess the rights and duties of all
citizens?
If a robot has civil rights it is only reasonable to assume that, as some
sort of citizen, it will also have legal rights. But what does it mean
to have legal rights? An entity cannot have a legal right unless and
until some public authoritative body punishes those who violate those
rights. Christopher Stone is somewhat more restrictive when providing a
definition—he asserts that, for a robot to have legal rights, the following
criteria must be satisfied:
1. Legal actions can be taken by the robot or on its behalf; and
2. In deciding such an action in the robot's favour, a court must take
injury to the robot into account and award compensation to the
robotaccordingtothatinjury.
Stone asserts that if these conditions are satisfied then the robot has a
legally recognized standing.
If robots are given legal rights just how far will these rights extend? Let
us first consider the question of ownership. Robots have the capability
to create copyrightable works of literature, music, art, and in other fields
including computer programming. But the copyright laws in force in
most western countries limit copyright protection to a period related to
