Responsibility for Killer Robots

Future weapons will make life-or-death decisions without a human in the loop. When such weapons inflict unwarranted harm, no one appears to be responsible. There seems to be a responsibility gap. I first reconstruct the argument for such responsibility gaps to then argue that this argument is not so...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Himmelreich, Johannes (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V [2019]
In: Ethical theory and moral practice
Year: 2019, Volume: 22, Issue: 3, Pages: 731-747
RelBib Classification:NCD Political ethics
NCJ Ethics of science
VA Philosophy
Further subjects:B Hierarchical groups
B Moral Philosophy
B Artificial Intelligence
B Causation
B Moral Responsibility
B Responsibility gap
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:Future weapons will make life-or-death decisions without a human in the loop. When such weapons inflict unwarranted harm, no one appears to be responsible. There seems to be a responsibility gap. I first reconstruct the argument for such responsibility gaps to then argue that this argument is not sound. The argument assumes that commanders have no control over whether autonomous weapons inflict harm. I argue against this assumption. Although this investigation concerns a specific case of autonomous weapons systems, I take steps towards vindicating the more general idea that superiors can be morally responsible in virtue of being in command.
ISSN:1572-8447
Contains:Enthalten in: Ethical theory and moral practice
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s10677-019-10007-9