Will killing robots be unethical in the future?

Posted on June 4, 2014 inAdvanced technology and bio-technology

Will killing robots be unethical in the future? Artificial brains will blur the lines between man and robot, warns expert

Dr Sandberg says it may be possible to emulate human brains in the future
But he says this raises troubling questions of ethicality and morality
He discusses whether it will ever be acceptable to kill an artificial being
It also poses questions of identity – is a copy less ‘human’ than an original?
This was a dilemma tackled by the popular 2006 movie The Prestige
He also suggests lab animals could one day be replaced by AI clones

In the future it's possible we will be able to create artificially human brains that emulate a real human - but what are the ethicalities and moralities of doing this? Dr Anders Sandberg from the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University takes a look at this intriguing topic in his paper 'Ethics of brain emulations'

Imagine this scenario: hundreds of years in the future it becomes possible to create an exact replica of any human brain on Earth.

How should the copy be treated? Should scientists be allowed to experiment on it and, ultimately, put it down if it is no longer needed? After all, it is merely artificial intelligence (AI).

Or should it be given the same rights, both legally and socially, as the human it was copied from? These are questions tackled by Dr Anders Sandberg of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University – and he warns there are no easy answers.

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