article

Machine morality: bottom-up and top-down approaches for modelling human moral faculties

Authors:

Wendell Wallach,

Iva SmitAuthors Info & Claims

AI & Society, Volume 22, Issue 4

Pages 565 - 582

Published: 01 April 2008 Publication History

Abstract

The implementation of moral decision making abilities in artificial intelligence (AI) is a natural and necessary extension to the social mechanisms of autonomous software agents and robots. Engineers exploring design strategies for systems sensitive to moral considerations in their choices and actions will need to determine what role ethical theory should play in defining control architectures for such systems. The architectures for morally intelligent agents fall within two broad approaches: the top-down imposition of ethical theories, and the bottom-up building of systems that aim at goals or standards which may or may not be specified in explicitly theoretical terms. In this paper we wish to provide some direction for continued research by outlining the value and limitations inherent in each of these approaches.

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Cited By

Kim BWen RZhu QWilliams TPhillips EBethel CPaiva ABroadbent EFeil-Seifer DSzafir D(2021)Robots as Moral AdvisorsCompanion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/3434074.3446908(10-18)Online publication date: 8-Mar-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3434074.3446908
Tolmeijer SKneer MSarasua CChristen MBernstein A(2020)Implementations in Machine EthicsACM Computing Surveys10.1145/341963353:6(1-38)Online publication date: 30-Dec-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3419633
Martinho AKroesen MChorus CMarkham APowles JWalsh TWashington A(2020)An Empirical Approach to Capture Moral Uncertainty in AIProceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society10.1145/3375627.3375805(101-101)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3375627.3375805
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Index Terms

Machine morality: bottom-up and top-down approaches for modelling human moral faculties
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Artificial intelligence

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

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cover image AI & Society

AI & Society Volume 22, Issue 4

April 2008

117 pages

ISSN:0951-5666

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Copyright © Copyright © 2008 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

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Springer-Verlag

Berlin, Heidelberg

Publication History

Published: 01 April 2008

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Cited By

Kim BWen RZhu QWilliams TPhillips EBethel CPaiva ABroadbent EFeil-Seifer DSzafir D(2021)Robots as Moral AdvisorsCompanion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/3434074.3446908(10-18)Online publication date: 8-Mar-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3434074.3446908
Tolmeijer SKneer MSarasua CChristen MBernstein A(2020)Implementations in Machine EthicsACM Computing Surveys10.1145/341963353:6(1-38)Online publication date: 30-Dec-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3419633
Martinho AKroesen MChorus CMarkham APowles JWalsh TWashington A(2020)An Empirical Approach to Capture Moral Uncertainty in AIProceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society10.1145/3375627.3375805(101-101)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3375627.3375805
Arnold TScheutz MMutlu BTscheligi MWeiss AYoung J(2017)Beyond Moral DilemmasProceedings of the 2017 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction10.1145/2909824.3020255(445-452)Online publication date: 6-Mar-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2909824.3020255
Baum S(2017)Social choice ethics in artificial intelligenceAI & Society10.1007/s00146-017-0760-135:1(165-176)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00146-017-0760-1
Galanos V(2017)Singularitarianism and schizophreniaAI & Society10.1007/s00146-016-0679-y32:4(573-590)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2017
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Lim HStocker RBarlow MLarkin HChbeir R(2010)Modelling interplay in normative social systemsProceedings of the International Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems10.1145/1936254.1936256(1-8)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1936254.1936256
Wallach W(2010)Robot minds and human ethicsEthics and Information Technology10.1007/s10676-010-9232-812:3(243-250)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10676-010-9232-8
Tonkens R(2009)A Challenge for Machine EthicsMinds and Machines10.1007/s11023-009-9159-119:3(421-438)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s11023-009-9159-1

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