Suchergebnisse

In this contribution, it is argued for the potential of empirical moral philosophy in the context of the regulation of self-driving cars. This chapter focuses on the use and abuse of capturing the moral preferences of the general public and including these in the regulatory process. The Moral Machine Experiment is used as an example of collecting evidence on public moral preferences to help program self-driving vehicles. After a comprehensive presentation of the aim and methodology of the study, criticisms are discussed and partly refuted.  It is concluded that the findings of the Moral Machine experiment are an impressive collection of data that has indeed contributed to the ethical and legal debate of how to regulate moral dilemmas caused by self-driving cars. Future empirical research in the field can continue along these lines. While the methodological limits of the Moral Machine experiment have to be acknowledged, it is nevertheless important to consider public moral preferences in the ethics of self-driving cars.

The diffusion of algorithms, robots, and artificial intelligence has sparked public debates regarding opportunities, risks, and responsibility for addressing problems and developing solutions. Since media cover and shape sociotechnical imaginaries, this study investigates the Austrian media discourses on responsibility in two domains of automation: social media algorithms and social companions. Using a machine learning approach, relevant articles were identified, followed by a manual comparative content analysis. The findings indicate that media coverage of social media algorithms tends to be more critical compared to social companions. In the debate about social media algorithms, journalists emerge as the most common speakers raising responsibility issues and primarily attributing them to Internet platform providers. Conversely, responsibility for social robotics is predominantly articulated by experts, considering it as a responsibility shared by society, economy, and research. Furthermore, the media present different perspectives on the agency and responsibility of social media algorithms and social robots themselves.