Autonomous systems in ethical dilemmas: Attitudes toward randomization

Computers in Human Behavior Reports

Gari Walkowitz¹  Matthias Uhl²  Anja Bodenschatz³ 

[1] Seminar for Corporate Development and Business Ethics, Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923, Cologne, Germany;TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology, Arcisstraße 21, 80333, München, Germany;Research Group “Ethics of Digitization”. Faculty of Informatics, Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt, Esplanade 10, 85049, Ingolstadt, Germany;

关键词: Randomization attitudes;    Ethical dilemmas;    Autonomous systems;    Machine ethics;    Utilitarianism;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

It is ethically debatable whether autonomous systems should be programmed to actively impose harm on some to avoid greater harm for others. Surveys on ethical dilemmas in self-driving cars’ programming have shown that people favor imposing harm on some people to save others from suffering and are consequently willing to sacrifice smaller groups to save larger ones in unavoidable accident situations. This is, if people are forced to directly impose harm. Contrary to humans, autonomous systems feature a salient deontological alternative for immediate decisions: the ability to randomize decisions over dilemmatic outcomes. To be applicable in democracies, randomization must correspond to people's moral intuition. In three studies (N = 935), we present empirical evidence that many people prefer to randomize between dilemmatic outcomes due to moral considerations. We find these preferences in hypothetical and incentivized decision-making situations. We also find that preferences are robust in different contexts and persist across Germany, with its Kantian cultural tradition, and the US, with its utilitarian cultural tradition.

【 授权许可】

Unknown