Human rights for robots

One day soon robots could share the same rights as humans, according to a study commissioned by the UK Government.

This theory was vehemently attacked by leading British scientists yesterday, who say that the Government has diverted attention away from more pressing ethical issues.

The debate is now on.

Scientists will argue this issue this evening at the Dana Centre, at the Science Museum in London.

Robotics researchers have published a 'Robo-rights' document in December last year, sponsored by the Department of Trade and Industry, which concluded that it is a pointless philosophy founded on speculation and poor science.

Although there are important questions to be asked about robot technology, the researchers believed in the issue of robot rights, which scientists do not take seriously.

'Robo-rights' was one of over 200 reports funded by Sir David King, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser.

Autonomy more likely than intelligence

If artificial intelligence was ever successfully developed, the paper said, such robots might have to be given similar rights to humans, including the right to vote.

"If granted full rights, states will be obligated to provide full social benefits to them including income support, housing and possibly robo-healthcare to fix the machines over time," the researchers wrote.

Alan Winfield, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of the West of England in Bristol, told The Times that debating the implications of artificial intelligence was an unnecessary diversion from more pressing problems.

"I am much more worried about robot autonomy than robot intelligence. It is likely that we will have autonomous dumb robots very soon."

He added that a key issue around autonomous robots was who is responsible if one kills or injures someone.

However, it was clear that such an event would be the fault of the designer or operator, but that may not be the case if robots start to act autonomously.

Winfield will be joined by two other British scientists to debate the issue this evening at the Science Museum in London.

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