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Machine Morality

Four Kinds of Ethical Robots

James H. Moor defines different ways in which machines could be moral.

Could we ever teach robots right from wrong? Can we afford not to try? I wish to defend the idea that robot ethics is a legitimate, interesting, and important field of philosophical and scientific research. I believe it’s possible that someday robots will be good ethical decision-makers, at least in limited situations, acting ethically on the basis of a moral understanding. Put another way, such robots will not only act according to ethical principles, but will act from them.

I am not committed to any particular term, but I will use ‘robot ethics’ as it suggests artificial agency. I don’t exclude the possibility of a computer serving as an ethical advisor, and I include both software and hardware agents as ‘robots’.

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