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Artificial intelligence: Europe needs a “human in command approach,” says EESC
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
01 Jun 2017
The EU must pursue a policy that ensures the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Europe in favor, and not conducive to the detriment, acts of society and social welfare,...
The sunny side of the roboconomy in the Middle East
Mauricio Zuazua
24 May 2017
The Middle East and North Africa's youthful, fast-urbanizing population are perfectly placed to embrace technology and reap the rewards of the Fourth Industrial Revolution....
On the future of human-centered robotics
MIT News
16 May 2017
Science and technology are essential tools for innovation, and to reap their full potential, we also need to articulate and solve the many aspects of today’s global issues that are rooted in the pol...
Thoughts on the EU’s draft report on robotics
Alan Winfield
08 May 2017
I was asked to write a short op-ed on the European Parliament Law Committee's recommendations on civil law rules for robotics. In the end, the piece didn't get published, so I am posting it here:...
Does AI pose a threat to society?
Alan Winfield
03 May 2017
Last week I had the pleasure of debating the question "does AI pose a threat to society?" with friends and colleagues Christian List, Maja Pantic and Samantha Payne. The event was organised by the B...
Why it’s difficult to trust robots
Joffrey Becker
19 Apr 2017
Robots raise all kinds of concerns. They could steal our jobs, as some experts think. And if artificial intelligence grows, it might even be tempted to enslave us, or to annihilate the whole of humani...
The legal issues of robotics
Andrea Bertolini
06 Apr 2017
Robots are the technology of the future. But the current legal system is incapable of handling them. This generic statement is often the premise for considerations about the possibility of awarding ri...
To really help US workers, invest in robots
Nikolaus Correll
31 Mar 2017
America’s manufacturing heyday is gone, and so are millions of jobs, lost to modernization. Despite what Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin might think, the National Bureau of Economic Research and S...
Artificial people: How will the law adapt to intelligent systems?
Rob van den Hoven van Genderen
31 Mar 2017
Robotics technology is no longer limited to industry. Climate Controls, 3D printers, surveillance robots, drones, household and even sex robots are entering the private market. The more autonomous the...
Asimov’s laws of robotics are not the moral guidelines they appear to be
Tom Sorell
29 Mar 2017
Seventy-five years ago, the celebrated science fiction writer Isaac Asimov published a short story called Runaround. Set on Mercury, it features a sophisticated robot nicknamed Speedy that has been or...
Choreographing automated cars could save time, money and lives
Horizon Magazine
15 Mar 2017
If you take humans out of the driving seat, could traffic jams, accidents and high fuel bills become a thing of the past? As cars become more automated and connected, attention is turning to how to be...
Should an artificial intelligence be allowed to get a patent?
Ronald Yu
09 Mar 2017
Whether an A.I. ought to be granted patent rights is a timely question given the increasing proliferation of A.I. in the workplace. Examples: Daimler-Benz has tested self-driving trucks on public road...
Artificial intelligence: Utopia or dystopia?
Margaret Boden
02 Mar 2017
Artificial intelligence (AI) already plays a major role in human economies and societies, and it will play an even bigger role in the coming years. To ponder the future of AI is thus to acknowledge th...
Drones for good 2.0: How WeRobotics is redefining the use of unmanned systems in developing countries
Waypoint
22 Feb 2017
Robotics undoubtedly has the potential to improve lives in the developing world. However, with limited budgets and expertise on the ground, putting this technology in place is no small task. Step forw...
At what point should an intelligent machine be considered a person?
Kyle Bowyer
22 Feb 2017
Science fiction likes to depict robots as autonomous machines, capable of making their own decisions and often expressing their own personalities. Yet we also tend to think of robots as property, and ...
Legal artificial intelligence: Can it stand up in a court of law?
Ronald Yu
21 Feb 2017
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell repeatedly mentions what has become known as the “10,000-hour rule”, which states that to become world-class in any field you must devote 10,000 hours of “...
RoboLaw: Regulating robotics (video)
Kassie Perlongo
14 Feb 2017
What legal rights should a robot have? In this video, Polo Sant'Anna Valdera, one of the leading research centres for robotics, raises this important question. Innovation raises new legal and ethica...
Quest for Roboethics: An interview with Prof. Rafael Capurro
Yueh-Hsuan Weng
14 Feb 2017
In this interview, we invited Prof. Rafael Capurro to share his insights on past, current, and future trends in robot ethics....
5 global problems that AI could help us solve
Alex Gray
10 Feb 2017
There’s a great deal of concern over artificial intelligence; what it means for our jobs, whether robots will one day replace us in the workplace, whether it will one day lead to robot wars. But cur...
Georgia and Virginia legislation for automated driving and delivery robots
Bryant Walker Smith
09 Feb 2017
How Governments Can Promote Automated Driving recommended that governments conduct "legal audits" to "identify and analyze every statute and regulation that could apply adversely or ambiguously to au...
Technical challenges in machine ethics
Yueh-Hsuan Weng
08 Feb 2017
Machine ethics offers an alternative solution for artificial intelligence (AI) safety governance. In order to mitigate risks in human-robot interactions, robots will have to comply with humanity’s e...
The infrastructure of life part 2: Transparency
Alan Winfield
03 Feb 2017
Part 2: Autonomous Systems and Transparency
In my previous post I argued that a wide range of AI and Autonomous Systems (from now on I will just use the term AS as shorthand for both) should be reg...
Artificial intelligence and ethics: Who does the thinking?
Alex Kirkpatrick
27 Jan 2017
On the 15th November 2016, the IEEE’s AI and Ethics Summit posed the question: “Who does the thinking?” In a series of key-note speeches and lively panel discussions, leading technologists, leg...
Responsive and Responsible Leadership given prominance at #WEF17 World Economic Forum
Alex Kirkpatrick
20 Jan 2017
The population of the scenic ski-resort Davos, nestled in the Swiss Alps, swelled by nearly +3,000 people between the 17th and 20th of January. World leaders, academics, business tycoons, press and in...
EU needs to take the lead on regulating robots and artificial intelligence, MEPs suggest
Robohub Editors
16 Jan 2017
EU rules for the fast-evolving field of robotics, for example, compliance with ethical standards and liability for accidents involving driverless cars, should be put forward by the EU Commission, urge...
Brian Cox presents Science Matters: Machine learning and artificial intelligence
Robohub Editors
11 Jan 2017
We're beginning to see more and more jobs being performed by machines, even creative tasks like writing music or painting can now be carried out by a computer.
But how and when will machines be abl...
MIT Media Lab to participate in $27 million initiative on AI ethics and governance
MIT News
10 Jan 2017
The MIT Media Lab and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University will serve as the founding anchor institutions for a new initiative aimed at bridging the gap between the ...
A report on the ELS Workshop 2016
The Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Social Robots in Healthcare and Education Workshop (also called ELS Workshop) was held in Yokohama the 14th Nov 2016 during the JSAI-isAI Conference. The works...
2016: the best year yet for funding robotics startups
Frank Tobe
02 Jan 2017
2016 was a busy and abundant year for seed, crowd, series A,B,C,D and VC funding of robotics-related startups. 128 companies got funded, some multiple times. $1.95 billion, 50% more than 2015 whic...
Jibo look-alike appears on Chinese websites
Frank Tobe
29 Dec 2016
For all of us who participated in the Jibo IndieGoGo crowdfunding and are anxiously awaiting delivery - which has been delayed again - this Chinese knock-off came as quite a surprise....
Ethically Aligned Design
Alan Winfield
27 Dec 2016
Having been involved in roboethics for some years, I was delighted when the IEEE launched its initiative on Ethical Considerations in AI and Autonomous Systems, early this year. Especially so because ...
Uber must follow California’s laws
Bryant Walker Smith
19 Dec 2016
Uber is testing its self-proclaimed “self-driving” vehicles on California roads without complying with the testing requirements of California’s automated driving law. California’s Department o...
How do we regulate robo-morality?
Yueh-Hsuan Weng
15 Dec 2016
In April 2016, British Standards Institution (BSI) published the world’s first ethical standard for the design, production, sale, and usage of social robots. “BS 8611: 2016 Robots and robotic devi...
Robots at your service: Empowering healthy aging at European Robotics Week, 2016
Thosha Moodley
08 Dec 2016
The European Robotics Week in 2016 took place from 18 to 22 November in several countries including The Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Serbia and many more. This event has been occ...
One being for two origins: A new perspective on roboethics
Yueh-Hsuan Weng
08 Dec 2016
The concept One Being for Two Origins, from the teachings of Buddha, considers the unification of technology, nature, and human beings. It emerges from the theory of the three aspects: The values of t...
Commerce announces first artificial intelligence hearing today, livestream available
Robohub Editors
30 Nov 2016
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness will convene a hearing today, 30 November, at 2:30 p.m. EST on “The Dawn of Artificial Intelligence....
