INTRODUCTION: Artificial intelligence is a huge step towards the future cartoons like Jetsons and Jimmy Neutron envisaged in us. The field of robotics is evolving rapidly with huge technological advances taking place every day. Artificial intelligence has entered whole new levels with the development of Sophia, the first humanoid robot by Hanson Robotics, a Hong-Kong based company. Even more interesting is the fact that is received a citizenship from Saudi Arabia in October 2017, for which Saudi Arabia was criticized for giving more rights to machines than women of its country. Ironically, Sophia has started advocating for women’s rights in Saudi and is emerging as a huge advocate for human rights. With Sophia occupying the intrigues of the world and the media, the question that arises is that the quick expansion of the world of robotics, how should the boundaries be maintained through law and what legal ethics and norms should govern such a dimension of technology.
American science fiction author, Isaac Asimov had devised three laws for robots in 1942 in his story called, Runaround. These laws are also known as Asimov’s laws, which are: “(1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. (2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. (3) A robot must protect its own existence if such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law” . Years later, while drafting a study on recommendations on the regulations and legal framework to govern the legislations on such laws by the European parliament as European Civil law rules for robotics and publishing Draft Report with Recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics, Asimov’s laws were used for guidance.
These drafts can be used by other States, inside or outside EU as relevant model while drafting codes for robotic legislations in future. This paper intends to roughly sketch the problems that are faced while drafting laws for robots and solutions which are posed on these problems. In addition, it would bring out the threats and warnings which have been brought on such advancements and technological changes.
PROBLEMS FACED WHILE DRAFTING RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Coming up with a common definition for robots Of the several issues faced by the committee, the first one was to pan out a common definition of a smart robot that would be acceptable by various communities and without a proper definition, such regulations would seem inoperable. What constitutes of a smart robot can be a subject hotly debated among many and would consist of a many subjective takes on who is or more appropriately put, what is a robot without any global consensus. Therefore, coming up with a definition which is inclusive of all categories of robots and is acceptable by globally is a grueling task. There are many problems with coming up with a unitary definition, for example, should ‘Smart Robot” only consider autonomous robots which need almost no human intervention to operate or should also include surgical robots which operate on a slave-master model and need human intervention to operate. Robots like Da Vinci’s Surgical system which are highly revolutionary systems, should they also be counted under smart robots despite having to be controlled by human interference or should only highly automated and smart robots make the cut is a difficult to respond to.to. Robots are highly diversified, consisting of various applications and codes, forming a definition to govern all the models would be next to impossible. However, to tackle this issue, a broad definition with a narrower definition beside it which takes in account of all the relevant categories like autonomy, control, human intervention can be created. These narrower definitions with sub categories and sub classes of robots will aid in keeping all the different kinds of robots under the regulatory boundaries.
2. ISSUE OF LIABILITY IN ROBOTICS Error by machines is more common than expected. There will be many situations where there would be damage caused by the robots, and in these situations, the someone would have to take up the liability. For this reason, there is a motion of giving the robots another category of individuals, that of electronic persons. Legal consequences of providing a separate legal status to robots are being examined, this is so through a separate legal identity, the robots which are autonomous and designed to make decisions on their own can be held liable for damages and bear consequences of their actions. Because of some robots being autonomous and make decisions by themselves, there must be some liability for their actions and through awarding such a status as a separate legal person, they can make good the damage they caused. However, this path poses some problems. Primarily, that begin a legal person confers upon you some rights and duties. A Legal person, is expected to have some human consciousness and natural feeling for some rights and duties being conferred on it. A Legal personality is expected to have some human force driving it. For example, a limited company is a separate legal person, however, it is controlled by its board of directors, shareholders and promoters. When the corporate veil is lifted, the controlling humans behind it are held liable. However, in this case, there is no human force for some categories of robots like the ones which are highly automated. Robots do not have the consciousness and thinking like a natural person, therefore giving them a status as a legal person just for the owning up for the liability doesn’t transpire into a good idea. A legal person has rights, which a natural person has. These are rights like, right to life or right to live with dignity. Such rights if conferred upon a robot, would render it impossible to send them in inhumane conditions or situations like war leaving them useless as the purpose of robots is to perform tasks humans cannot. Thus attributing personhood to robots will erase the boundary between humans and machines and would present unprecedented problems. Problem with determining liability of a Robot is fairly complex in nature. If a robot commits an error, it can be difficult to determine the source of such an error. There can be a problem with the decision of the autonomous robot, or it could be due to a technical glitch in the software, where the software company would be held liable. It could be due to user error. This does not only stretch till here. In situations like when a robot is learning to perform a task and causes harm to a third party, will the owner of the robot be held liable. Instead, other options for compensation for damages can be set in place, for example insurance or organizations set up in different industries which specifically deal with this issue.
3. FORMATION OF ROBOETHICAL GUIDELINES. With the emerging technology, it becomes imperative that there be some ethical standards and guidelines governing the actions of robots. These ethical guidelines must include, first and foremost the principle of protecting humans from harm by the robots. Deriving it from the laws of Asimov, his first and most fundamental law. Robots must do no harm to human beings. There is a lot of negative image of robots when it comes to including them in daily lives and the perception of robots taking over the control by humans and dominating the human species is widespread. Following such ideas, the touchstone of all the laws revolving around robotics should be the protection of human beings from any possible harm from any robot. These should include regulations like a robot should be incapable of being turned into a weapon to harm third party or can be used to self-harm. Other ethical guidelines include, refusing aid of robots or restraining robots from violating any form of human liberty or dignity. Human dignity and liberty forms one of the most core foundations of human rights, found in UDHR, in Article 5(1) of European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Another essential sphere which needs roboethical guidelines is protection of privacy of individuals. Robots will have access to mass information, from medical records to credit card information. Robots can be used to breach into such information. Right to privacy is fundamental to human life and dignity and therefore individuals needs to be protected from such breaches. Pivotal personal information can be leaked and obtained and therefore, guidelines surrounding the usage of data needs to be closely looked in. Robot in medical service or banking etc., need to be heavily monitored for protection of privacy. Similarly, there should be guidelines so social ties of humans don’t end with the presence of robots. Robot companions or sex robots should not substitute human relations and therefore there should be restrictions regarding such a substitution to maintain human relations. These are some areas where the guidelines need to be in place, similarly, there are many areas where roboethical guidelines need to be placed to avoid any harm or difficulties in the future.
4. TESTING OF ROBOTS For such an advancement, it becomes imperative to provide an environment for the robots to be tested and developed. Such a space is needed however, these testing and development should be carried out in a heavily controlled ambience so no harm comes to humans in any form. The research and development space should be regulated and monitored to protect individuals. Therefore, proper and stringent technical standards need to be in place concerning the testing and monitoring such an environment to avoid emerging of any kind of danger to lives around it.These are some of the difficulties which can crop up while debating and drafting legislations for robots. Due to its rapidly advancing nature, sooner or later the need for such legislations will be inevitable and such problems pose huge difficulties in determining the laws which would be appropriate for laws governing robots.
COMPETITION REGULATIONS Other problems that could occur with expansion in Artificial Intelligence is that there could emerge a competition between countries for the technology. There could be weaker regulations and guidelines so that the investment and development of such technology happens in their country. Weaker regulations could prove disadvantageous for the citizens of that country as there would be less protection against the possible dangers that would be brought in by emerging expansion of artificial intelligence. Similarly, since such technology would give a huge advantage to people who have access to it, there would be many private actors who would try to acquire it. Thus, due to these reasons there needs to be efficient competition regulatory guidelines in place for no unfair advantage or unwanted use of the technology which could pose threats later.
Threats and warnings surrounding the emerging advances in robotic technology Apart from the obvious fear the persists in humans of robotic domination, there are other threats which have been brought into attention. First and foremost being the loss of labour due to human labor being substituted by Robots due to their efficiency. Many robots are made for the purpose to perform tasks which humans were incapable of performing or it was too dangerous for humans to performs however, leaders like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Bill gates have warned about the mass unemployment would be accelerated due to this robot revolution. Jobs in industries like transportation, Data analysis, coding or in customer care etc. would also be lost to robots due to their efficiency. This could lead to a massive damage in the economies of countries with huge populations who work in these industries on low wages due to the bulk unemployment. To combat this, Bill Gates has endorsed taxing robots who take human jobs suggested by Mady Delvaux in the draft report submitted to the European Parliament, however that idea was rejected by European Union.
Apart from huge hits on economies and loss of jobs, there is a section of robots which are being made to substitute soldiers from their jobs as they’re risky and to avoid human casualties. Thus, robots to combat are being prepared. However, many researchers are worried that these robots could also become a threat to humans and turn into killer robots. These machines would become so automated that they would automatically become a danger to humans as killer machines. Military have started adopting automated machines already. For example, South Korea has deployed, Super aEgis II, which is a gun that can automatically identify the target and kill it.
CONCLUSION With emerging revolution of robots, there are many problems that are emerging in various fields as well. Be it in regarding the protection of individuals’ dignity and liberty or relating to economy of a country. It isn’t restricted to one sector and the difficulties exist in all fields.
Aishwarya Mishra, 2nd year law, OP Jindal Global University,Sonipat, Haryana (Intern, Daksha Legal)
Daksha Legal