AI, or artificial intelligence, is a division of computer science that explores

intelligent behavior, learning and adaptation in machines. The idea of automating

tasks that currently require intelligent behavior is the basis for most research
in the field of artificial intelligence. Providing solutions to real life problems
through the production of artificial intelligence software or machines is the
ultimate goal.

Artificial intelligence systems have many practical uses in business, from

organizing operations to investing in stocks. Many of these applications are made
up of networks similar to the neurons in a human brain, which are known to do
extremely well in pattern recognition.

The attacks on 9/11 have brought about much renewed interest and funding for
artificial intelligence research. New research in threat-detection, including
machine vision research and data-mining, is aimed at helping to solidify our
nation�s security.

Other examples of how artificial intelligence is used include software

applications and spam filtering solutions. The development of traditional strategy
games like computer chess and other video games also use AI.

1 Introduction
Artificial intelligence is a field of study that has many sub-fields. When
discussing the ethics of AI one cannot look at the broad field of study to
determine if one should develop AI. It is necessary to take a look at the specific
sub-fields and their applications and then decide whether one should pursue that
area. In this paper I will be considering one sub-field of AI, that being
robotics.

To begin with, I will give a brief overview of robotics. From there, three of the
major components will be looked at. Finally I will address some of the ethical
issues associated with robotics. My goal is not to persuade one way or another. I
simply wish to give an introduction to robotics and lay out the ethical issues
involved in developing this technology.

2 Robotics
Robotics is an area of artificial intelligence that combines almost all other
areas of AI in some fashion. James L. Noyes, [Noyes, p.375], defines a robot as:

"A computer that is equipped with sensory devices and has the ability to
communicate, move, and manipulate objects."

Currently robots are being used mainly in industrial applications. Some of these
areas include automotive assembly lines and chemical manufacturing plants.
However, in the future the potential applications are widespread. We could see
robotic soldiers, teachers, and maids. Ultimately, one of the biggest goals in
robotics is to create Artificial Life. These are robots that think, learn, and are
self aware, as-well as possessing the attributes mentioned in Noyes' definition of
a robot.
As previously stated, robotics utilizes almost all other aspects of artificial
intelligence in some sense. Some of the main areas that are linked to robotics are
machine vision, natural language understanding, and learning. I will now look at
each of these areas individually and see how they are used in robotics. After
doing so I will return to robotics to discuss the ethical issues facing it.

2.1 Machine Vision

The first area to look at is machine vision. Vision is an important area of
artificial intelligence study. Some people believe that vision is the most
important of the five senses. The ability to see and process information allows us
to easily navigate our way through the world. In addition to this vision is an
essential method of obtaining knowledge.

Human vision is very complex. Nearly one quarter of the human brain is dedicated
to vision. This fact also suggests the importance of vision. In humans, signals
sent from the eye to the brain for processing are often understood in a split
second. When we want to cross a street, we glance for oncoming traffic and almost
instantly know if it is safe to cross or not. Computers currently have the ability
to obtain images; however processing these images to get an intelligent
description is the focus of much research. Computer vision is considered one of
the most challenging aspects of artificial intelligence.

There are several reasons why vision has posed such a problem. One reason is that
the world we live in is three-dimensional. However, images that are processed by a
computer are two-dimensional. Humans avoid this difficulty by processing two
images at a time, one from each eye. In this fashion, humans can perceive the
third dimension. Additional information is required for a computer to do the same.

Another complication is related to the size of an image. In humans, the retina

contains approximately 130 million light-sensitive cells. Computers do not deal
with as much information. Considerable memory and processing power is required to
process all the points required. For example, consider an image of 256 x 256
pixels with each pixel having 1 of 256 possible light-intensity levels per pixel.
If each pixel required 1 byte of storage, the image would require more than 65
thousand bytes. Now, a sophisticated edge detection algorithm performing about 10
thousand operations per pixel would require some 650 million operations just to
find the edges inside the image.

A third complication involves dealing with the factors affecting an image of a

scene. Each pixel represents the interaction of many factors and it is very
difficult to separate them from each other. Texture, amount of light, direction of
a light source, point of view, reflection, and motion can all influence each
pixel. In addition to these, atmospheric elements such as dust and fog as well as
noise from the image viewing device can cause problems in the image processing
algorithms.

Robotics can utilize machine vision for several different purposes. The main
purpose is navigation. In order for a robot to move around the world it needs to
have knowledge of where obstacles are located. One solution would be for it to
memorize a specific area. This is not a practical solution in that our world is
constantly changing. In order for a robot to be useful and self sufficient it must
be capable of adjusting and reacting to its surroundings. Constantly updating its
internal images is the best way for a robot to do this.

Another purpose is for gathering knowledge. Vision is one of the primary means
humans have to gain knowledge, whether by reading books or observing events. In
order for robots to learn on their own they will require some means of seeing the
world around them.

2.2 Natural Language Understanding

Natural language understanding is also a key element of robotics. Language is an
important aspect of human intelligence. People use language for a variety of
reasons. Some of these include communicating facts, raising questions, formulating
theories, and sharing ideas. In order for robots to be truly intelligent, they
will require the ability to understand both spoken and written natural language.

Before we continue, it is important to distinguish what natural language is. There

are two basic types of vocabulary: constrained and unconstrained. Natural language
uses unconstrained vocabulary. Currently computers have the ability to understand
constrained language. An example of this is a computer programming language. In
contrast, humans utilize natural language in day to day communication.

If we are to construct robots to be intelligent then it is clear that natural

language understanding is an important component to implement. It would be far too
inconvenient for the average person to learn a different language in order to use
the robotic maid they just purchased. In addition to this, can a robot be called
intelligent if it can not understand what we are trying to tell it, especially
considering that language is one of the first things we learn as a child. Even
small children have the ability to understand commands such as "put your toys
away."

2.3 Learning
The final key aspect of robotics that I will be discussing is learning. Some
people say that learning may be the most important aspect of artificial
intelligence. Learning is defined by James L. Noyes, [Noyes, p.375], as being:

"...an experience that changes the state of an organism such that the new state
leads to an improved performance in subsequent situations."

Learning is important in robotics because it is essential in gaining knowledge. If

a robot is capable of learning then it has the ability to adapt to its
surroundings. Due to the complexity of our world and the ever-changing environment
it is impossible to anticipate all possible events or situations. It is because of
this that an intelligent robot must have the ability to learn in order to survive
on its own and be useful.

2.3.1 Neural Networks

Neural networks are a fundamental aspect of artificial intelligence closely
related to learning. A neural net is not programmed in the manner of a computer;
instead, they learn. Some distinguishing features of neural nets are as follows:
information is not stored locally; rather, it is distributed throughout the entire
network. A neural net is capable of performing rapid memory associations and is
fault-tolerant; this means that if a few nodes fail, the whole system can still
function in a relatively unaffected way. It is due to these features that make
neural nets excellent for vision and speech recognition.

Neural nets are key to robotics because of their potential applications such as
vision and speech recognition. Another reason is that they are modeled after the
human brain. The human brain consists of small neurons. Each neuron is responsible
for performing a simple task when given input in order to formulate output. This
output then goes to either other neurons connected to it for further processing or
it goes to some output mechanism in the human, such as muscles controlling the
arm. The collaboration of many neurons, some working at the same time, others
sequentially, is responsible for performing the large task. If an artificial
neural net with sufficient capacity were devoloped then it would make an effective
brain for a robot.

3. Ethics
The above areas are just a few of the essential elements required for robotics.
There are others, such as motion and synthesized speech. However, machine vision,
natural language understanding, as well as learning are essential to the
construction of intelligent robots that are useful and can function independently.
Now that we are familiar with these, lets take a look at the ethical issues
involved in constructing robots.

One application of robots, and currently where robots are utilized the most, is in
industrial areas. These robots can basically be called "dummy robots." They can
not operate individually and have limited use. However, they can be equipped with
sensors to enhance their capabilities and are a basis for robotic research.

The most common tasks these robots perform are those in assembly lines. For
example, a robotic arm is used to spot-weld several locations on a car frame in an
automotive assembly line. There are many reasons why this is beneficial. It will
increase productivity. A robot can function much more quickly then a human doing
the same job. As a result of increased productivity, costs are reduced, allowing
the company to gain higher profits as-well as lowering purchase cost. Product
quality is also raised due to the precision of robots. Not only are they more
precise, but every instance of their action is exactly the same. The increased
quality ensures a greater degree of safety for the user. This is very important
since with some products users are literally risking their lives if the product is
faulty and/or unsafe. Generally speaking, the majority of society would consider
it unethical to sell faulty products whether it causes death or not.

Another point to consider is that robots can free people from boring and
repetitive tasks. This may not be considered an ethical consideration by some
people. Generally, people do not consider boring someone to be unethical. However,
some people feel that you should not force someone to do something they do not
want to do. On the other hand, others feel it is part of life and everybody has to
go through it.

There are advantages to freeing humans of these tasks. If a human is to do exactly

the same thing over and over for hours on end, the quality of work will degrade.
Robots do not get bored or tired, so the quality of the last is just as good as
the first.

We also have to consider the issue of jobs lost as a result of robots. There has
been a debate about job loss ever since the industrial revolution. In a majority
of cases, technology has won. Is this the ethical choice though? Some feel it is
acceptable based on competition and the fact that it is the company's money. It is
their choice whether or not they spend their money employing people or purchasing
a robot to do the same task. Others will argue that putting a person out of a job
is unethical because of the social structure that it creates. It creates larger
gaps between upper, middle, and lower class people. These changes are a result of
a higher unemployment rate. In conjunction with these higher unemployment rates,
is the increase in homeless people.

Another application that robots are ideally suited for is in performing tasks in
environments that are unsafe for humans. There are many possibilities here that
robots can be used for. There is also an opportunity to utilize more intelligent
robots to perform these tasks, robots that have the ability to navigate themselves
around different terrains.

One possible task for a robot could be the handling of toxic materials. Some
materials, such as radioactive waste, can be very harmful if humans are exposed.
As a result, great care must be exercised when handling these materials. With a
properly designed robot, the risk of a spill is greatly reduced. If a spill were
to occur, the material would not pose a threat to the robot handling it.

Another useful task a robot can be used for is the disarming of land mines. There
is currently a strong world wide push to eliminate the use of mines and to disarm
active ones. As a result, using a robot to do this can be a very beneficial
strategy. The use of a robot, either remote-controlled or self-guiding, would
allow for quicker and more accurate detection and disarming of active land mines.
This would also eliminate the risk of a human bomb expert that may be injured or
killed while trying to locate or disarm a land mine.

There are some important issues to consider when deciding whether to use a robot
in one of these situations. One of them deals with sending humans into potentially
life threatening situations. A lot of tasks that are performed leave no room for
error, as fatalities can easily occur. Is it ethically permissable to send someone
into these situations?

Some will argue that it is on the grounds that nobody is forcing them to perform
this task. At some point or another they would have chosen to do it, either by
directly volunteering for the job, or by choosing a career path that could lead
them into this situation. At any rate, it is very uncommon for people to sign on
for something without knowing the risks involved ahead of time.

Some people believe that it is not acceptable to send a person into these
situations. The primary reason for this is that if there are safer methods, those
methods must be considered and implemented if possible; not doing so will
unnecessarily put a person or people at risk. The ethical decision would be to
utilize a reasonable method that will not create any unnecessarily danger for an
individual.

As I previously stated, the ultimate goal in robotics is to create artificial

life. An example of this is the character "Data" from the television show "Star
Trek: The Next Generation." Data is a human like android that can think faster,
perform tasks faster, remember information faster and more accurately, and is
physically stronger then humans. This concept of artificial life brings upon many
ethical issues to consider.

One of the biggest ethical debates deals with whether humans have the right to
create life or not. Many people of religious background would say we do not. This
is because there is a common feeling that humans are God's creations, and as such
should not play God and create life themselves. This would, in a way, put humans
on a level close, if not equal, to God. The story of the Tower of Babel in the
Bible suggests that God does not want humans on the same level. In this story,
humans tried to construct a tower high enough to reach God. One of their goals was
to prove they were on the same level as him. However, God prevented this from
happening by causing them to start speaking different languages so they were
unable to communicate and construct the tower.

Another viewpoint from a religious aspect is that some may consider that God
created artificial life by giving a person or a group of people the knowledge to
do so. Individuals believing this would accept that artificial life as God's
creation and not man's. In this respect it is ethically permissible to proceed
with the development of artificial life. Another view point that backs this up is
that everything that happens on earth is simply because God allows it. Yes, God
has given humans the freedom to make their own decisions, but if there is
something that God does not want to happen, it will not.

Another factor associated with artificial life to consider is that of evolution.

If robots are developed that are superior to humans in every way, then a Social
Darwinist might suggest that humans should back down and allow robots to take over
and run the world. Darwin's theory has been interpreted to state "survival of the
fittest," [Web]. The belief that it would be unethical to hinder our creations
from their full potential dictates that humans back down.

With this view point also comes the debate as to whether artificial life can be
classified as part of the evolution process. Some might say that it is part of
evolution because it does not matter how the superior species came about; it only
matters that it exists. Others might say that it does not fall under evolution
because it is not natural evolution, the adaption of organisms to their
environment over long periods of time. They would argue that creating something is
not the same as humans becoming more superior by adapting to their surroundings.

Conclusion
When dealing with the robotics field of artificial intelligence there are a number
of issues to consider. There are also ethical issues in the broad area of AI to
consider. I have only discussed a few of the major concerns that I have discovered
while researching this material. My goal was not to influence one way or another.
I believe that robotics can be good and it can be bad. It all depends on the
applications it is used for.