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c-Politics-Law-Society
The Ford factor: Mad scientists and corporate villains
Please note: The following article may contain spoilers up to Episode 5 of Westworld.
HBO’s Westworld (on Sky Atlantic here in the UK) is progressing nicely, though even now at five episodes in ...
16 November 2016, by
Michael Szollosy
Why watching Westworld’s robots should make us question ourselves
For a sci-fi fan like me, fascinated by the nature of human intelligence and the possibility of building life-like robots, it’s always interesting to find a new angle on these questions. As a re-ima...
21 October 2016, by
Tony Prescott
The new Westworld: Humanizing the un-human, or dehumanizing humankind?
HBO’s latest offering (on SkyAtlantic here in the UK) is an update of Michael Crichton‘s 1973 film Westworld; this time brought to us as a ten-part television series by sci-fi re-booter extraordin...
18 October 2016, by
Michael Szollosy
President Obama discusses artificial intelligence with Media Lab Director Joi Ito
When President Barack Obama agreed to guest-edit the November issue of WIRED, he selected MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito for an exchange of ideas about artificial intelligence (AI). Their recent inter...
17 October 2016, by
MIT News
White House releases reports focusing on opportunities and challenges of AI
While the future of artificial intelligence is probably going to be driven by Silicon Valley, the folks in Washington DC want their say about how it will work, too.
In two reports, the White House ...
14 October 2016, by
Dave Gershgorn
25 women in robotics you need to know about – 2016
Editor's note:
In celebration of International Women's Day, we're reposting our latest '25 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About' list. Over the last four years, Robohub has featured 100 inspir...
The Robot Economy: Interview with MEP Mady Delvaux
In our final interview in The Robot Economy series, we speak with Mady Delvaux, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Chair of the Working Group on robotics. Mady has written an extensive draft ...
08 October 2016, by
SPARC
The Robot Economy: Interview with Alan Manning
In today’s interview, we sat down with Alan Manning, Professor of Labour Economics at the London School of Economics. He is a leading author in his field, particularly in understanding the imperfect...
27 September 2016, by
SPARC
What artificial intelligence will look like in 2030
Artificial intelligence (AI) has already transformed our lives — from the autonomous cars on the roads to the robotic vacuums and smart thermostats in our homes. Over the next 15 years, AI technolog...
16 September 2016, by
Leah Burrows and Harvard SEAS
Taking measure of artificial intelligence and the Turing Test
As far as party games go, the Imitation Game is a pretty clever and fairly entertaining one. A man and a women answer questions as if they were the other, trying to fool party guests into guessing the...
31 August 2016, by
Jibo
How cooperative behaviour could make artificial intelligence more human
Cooperation is one of the hallmarks of being human. We are extremely social compared to other species. On a regular basis, we all enter into helping others in small but important ways, whether it be l...
26 August 2016, by
Roger Whitaker
The Robot Economy: Interview with Alan Winfield
Robots and their impact on the economy is on the forefront of everyone’s mind. Will robots increase productivity and jobs, improve society, and will wealth be shared? To address this question, we’...
24 August 2016, by
SPARC
The dark side of ethical robots
When I was interviewed on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme in 2014, Justin Webb's final question was, "If you can make an ethical robot, doesn't that mean you could make an unethical robot?" The ans...
09 August 2016, by
Alan Winfield
Lessons from Brexit and learning to better communicate robotics research and innovation
As part of the UK’s National Robotics Week, The University of Sheffield hosted the 17th Towards Autonomous Systems (TAROS) conference from 28-30 June. Among the papers and discussions on the develo...
27 July 2016, by
Michael Szollosy
How science can help us make AI more trustworthy
Stories about racist Twitter accounts and crashing self-driving cars can make us think that artificial intelligence (AI) is a work in progress. But while these headline-grabbing mistakes reveal the fr...
22 July 2016, by
Simone Stumpf
Why football, not chess, is the true final frontier for robotic artificial intelligence
The perception of what artificial intelligence was capable of began to change when chess grand master and world champion Garry Kasparov lost to Deep Blue, IBM’s chess-playing program, in 1997. Deep ...
20 July 2016, by
Daniel Polani
Law-abiding robots? What should the legal status of robots be?
News media are reporting that the EU is considering turning robots into electronic persons with rights and apparently industry spokespeople are concerned that Brussels’ overzealousness could hinder ...
18 July 2016, by
Anders Sandberg
A European perspective on robot law: Interview with Mady Delvaux-Stehres
10 years after the release of the EURON Roboethics Roadmap and we are witnessing a technology revolution. In the last 10 years, we've seen: Google’s self-driving car, Amazon’s KIVA system, drone...
15 July 2016, by
Yueh-Hsuan Weng
The obsession with creating ‘perfect female robots’: Should women be worried?
Julie Wosk is the author of a provocative book that gives the history of female robots in movies, television, art, literature, and includes a chapter on robotics. My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Andr...
14 July 2016, by
Julie Wosk
Relax, we’re not living in a computer simulation
Ever since Elon Musk's recent admission that he's a simulationist, several people have asked me what I think of the proposition that we are living inside a simulation. My view is very firmly that the...
13 July 2016, by
Alan Winfield
Unity between human and social machines: What if we humans were anthrobots?
Writer and philosopher Luis de Miranda studies cultural history of digital devices and automata, with his latest essay (in French) L’Art d’être libres au temps des automates (The Art of Being...
08 July 2016, by
Robohub Editors
Caring for robots: How assistive robotics may change our homes
Who will care for us in the future? According to many politicians, scientists and market analysts, it could be machines. Machines that will change our diapers, and spend time with us once we are old....
15 June 2016, by
Benjamin Lipp
Beyond Asimov: how to plan for ethical robots
As robots become integrated into society more widely, we need to be sure they’ll behave well among us. In 1942, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov attempted to lay out a philosophical and moral fra...
02 June 2016, by
Benjamin Kuipers
Robohub roundtable: Why is it so difficult to define ‘robot’?
Put on your thinking caps. Every few weeks, Robohub will conduct a roundtable discussion. In this edition, we discuss the challenges and limitations in defining the word ‘robot’. We strongly encou...
29 April 2016, by
Kassie Perlongo
Should robots be gendered?
Should robots be gendered? I have serious doubts about the morality of designing and building robots to resemble men or women, boys or girls. Let me explain why....
20 April 2016, by
Alan Winfield
Why robots need to be able to say ‘No’
Should you always do what other people tell you to do? Clearly not. Everyone knows that. So should future robots always obey our commands? At first glance, you might think they should, simply because ...
13 April 2016, by
Matthias Scheutz
Can I trust my robot? And should my robot trust me?
If we are serious about long-term human presence in space, such as manned bases on the moon or Mars, we must figure out how to streamline human-robot interactions....
07 April 2016, by
Riccardo Bevilacqua
Robots grow up: Building the emotional machine
From the sci-fi classic “Bladerunner” to the recent films “Her” and “Ex Machina,” pop culture is filled with stories demonstrating our simultaneous fascination with and fear of artificial ...
29 March 2016, by
Angelica Lim and Footnote
Survey shows public attitude towards robotics generally positive, but evokes mixed feelings
The British Science Association released a survey about British public’s attitudes toward robotics and AI. Their headlines state:
60% of people think that the use of robots or programmes equipp...
17 March 2016, by
Michael Szollosy
What the past of robotics law says about its future
One day, robots will present difficult legal challenges. This seems to be the consensus among commentators. And who am I to disagree? I have myself argued, right here on the digital pages of Slate, t...
