Philosophy and Ethics of Robots and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

This course is an introduction to the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and of robots based on AI. AI is a recent technology that is already widely used, and that is predicted to become particularly powerful and ubiquitous in the near future. Several researchers and writers have extolled the quasi-unlimited potential of this technology, others have warned for an imminent ‘singularity’ in human history in which superintelligent AI systems will overtake the hegemony over people.

In this (sometimes hyped) debate, it is wise to start with having a look at what AI and Machine Learning precisely are, and at the tasks they can execute for the time being. Then we will study questions as: what is the potential of AI? How could it evolve? What are the dangers related to AI? Can we ensure that AI behaves ethically? Which ethical principles and governmental rules have been proposed for the reasonable use of AI? What is the research done at SAS in this field?