Should We Let Robots Decide When to Kill?

This week on the APP SHOW video podcast, we’re going deep into artificial intelligence with a look at how our very own moral biases can influence life or death decisions that machines make. And whether it’s a good idea to let robots make those life or death decisions by themselves. This insightful episode of the May 24, 2020, edition of the APP SHOW video podcast is a must listen to, whether you’re with the robot overlords, or not.

Watch now by clicking the video below!

AI and moral bias have everything to do with the title of this show. Just think about it! You’re in a vehicle driving, and an accident is about to happen. Avoiding this accident leads you to choose whether to swerve left or swerve right. On one side, there is a small child. On the other side, there are three older adults. Which way do you turn? Or, do you choose to self annihilate to save both? Now, what happens if you get an autonomous vehicle to make that same decision? Morality comes from our experiences, and we’ll be the ones programming the machines. Inevitably, our own biases will influence these responses.

Sasha Luccioni is the Director of Scientific Projects at Mila’s AI for Humanity society. Their organization aids in deploying AI ‘for good.’ Moral bias is a research topic that has far-reaching implications for the deployment of AI. As machines advance, they will be relied upon more often to make more difficult choices, just like the scenario above, which is now being field-tested by companies working on autonomous driving technologies.

To help us understand just what these choices look like to machines, the MIT Moral Machine has a test that humans can take. We urge you to give it a try. If Mike and John struggled with the answers as humans, imagine if a machine had to make the same ones.

Connected by apps are Mike Agerbo and John Biehler, and thank you to Sasha Luccioni from Mila’s AI for Humanity society, for helping us unpack this fascinating topic.

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