Empowering robots for ethical behavior
Researchers have
developed a concept called Empowerment to help robots and humans to work and
live side-by-side safely and effectively
Date: July 18, 2017
Source: Frontiers
Summary:Scientists have developed a concept called Empowerment to help
robots to protect and serve humans, while keeping themselves safe. Rather than
trying to make a machine understand complex ethical questions, the concept is
based on robots always seeking to keep their options open, and doing the same
for the humans around them.
FULL STORY
Scientists at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK have
developed a concept called Empowerment to help robots to protect and serve
humans, while keeping themselves safe.
Robots
are becoming more common in our homes and workplaces and this looks set to
continue. Many robots will have to interact with humans in unpredictable
situations. For example, self-driving cars need to keep their occupants safe,
while protecting the car from damage. Robots caring for the elderly will need
to adapt to complex situations and respond to their owners' needs.
Recently,
thinkers such as Stephen Hawking have warned about the potential dangers of
artificial intelligence, and this has sparked public discussion. "Public
opinion seems to swing between enthusiasm for progress and downplaying any
risks, to outright fear," says Daniel Polani, a scientist involved in the
research, which was recently published in Frontiers
in Robotics and AI.
However,
the concept of "intelligent" machines running amok and turning on
their human creators is not new. In 1942, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov
proposed his three laws of robotics, which govern how robots should interact
with humans. Put simply, these laws state that a robot should not harm a human,
or allow a human to be harmed. The laws also aim to ensure that robots obey
orders from humans, and protect their own existence, as long as this doesn't
cause harm to a human.
The
laws are well-intentioned, but they are open to misinterpretation, especially
as robots don't understand nuanced and ambiguous human language. In fact,
Asimov's stories are full of examples where robots misinterpreted the spirit of
the laws, with tragic consequences.
One
problem is that the concept of "harm" is complex, context-specific
and is difficult to explain clearly to a robot. If a robot doesn't understand
"harm," how can they avoid causing it? "We realized that we
could use different perspectives to create 'good' robot behavior, broadly in
keeping with Asimov's laws," says Christoph Salge, another scientist
involved in the study.
The
concept the team developed is called Empowerment. Rather than trying to make a
machine understand complex ethical questions, it is based on robots always
seeking to keep their options open. "Empowerment means being in a state
where you have the greatest potential influence on the world you can
perceive," explains Salge. "So, for a simple robot, this might be
getting safely back to its power station, and not getting stuck, which would
limit its options for movement. For a more futuristic, human-like robot this
would not just include movement, but could incorporate a variety of parameters,
resulting in more human-like drives."
The
team mathematically coded the Empowerment concept, so that it can be adopted by
a robot. While the researchers originally developed the Empowerment concept in
2005, in a recent key development, they expanded the concept so that the robot
also seeks to maintain a human's Empowerment. "We wanted the robot to see
the world through the eyes of the human with which it interacts," explains
Polani. "Keeping the human safe consists of the robot acting to increase
the human's own Empowerment."
"In
a dangerous situation, the robot would try to keep the human alive and free
from injury," says Salge. "We don't want to be oppressively protected
by robots to minimize any chance of harm, we want to live in a world where
robots maintain our Empowerment."
This
altruistic Empowerment concept could power robots that adhere to the spirit of
Asimov's three laws, from self-driving cars, to robot butlers.
"Ultimately, I think that Empowerment might form an important part of the
overall ethical behaviour of robots," says Salge.
Story
Source:
Materials
provided by Frontiers. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.
Comments