About the session
Robots are pieces of technology that are designed, manufactured, sold and owned. On the face of it then, they are just another product and we should think of them as such and develop an ethical framework for their design and use on that basis. On the other hand, robots have capabilities that no other product ever had. In particular, they decide their own actions, based, amongst other things, on their unique experiences. People may also engage with them in ways that are different to how we interact with other products. For instance, we may relate to them more as we do to other animals, including humans. So, in developing ethical principles for robots should we treat them as just another product or do we need to start thinking of them as something new?
