TY - JOUR
T1 - The risks of autonomous machines: from responsibility gaps to control gaps
AU - Hindriks, Frank
AU - Veluwenkamp, H.M.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Responsibility gaps concern the attribution of blame for harms caused by autonomous machines. The worry has been that, because they are artificial agents, it is impossible to attribute blame, even though doing so would be appropriate given the harms they cause. We argue that there are no responsibility gaps. The harms can be blameless. And if they are not, the blame that is appropriate is indirect and can be attributed to designers, engineers, software developers, manufacturers or regulators. The real problem lies elsewhere: autonomous machines should be built so as to exhibit a level of risk that is morally acceptable. If they fall short of this standard, they exhibit what we call ‘a control gap.’ The causal control that autonomous machines have will then fall short of the guidance control they should emulate.
AB - Responsibility gaps concern the attribution of blame for harms caused by autonomous machines. The worry has been that, because they are artificial agents, it is impossible to attribute blame, even though doing so would be appropriate given the harms they cause. We argue that there are no responsibility gaps. The harms can be blameless. And if they are not, the blame that is appropriate is indirect and can be attributed to designers, engineers, software developers, manufacturers or regulators. The real problem lies elsewhere: autonomous machines should be built so as to exhibit a level of risk that is morally acceptable. If they fall short of this standard, they exhibit what we call ‘a control gap.’ The causal control that autonomous machines have will then fall short of the guidance control they should emulate.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145861868&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11229-022-04001-5
DO - 10.1007/s11229-022-04001-5
M3 - Article
SN - 0039-7857
VL - 201
JO - Synthese: an international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science
JF - Synthese: an international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science
IS - 1
M1 - 21
ER -