Postgraduate Course: Ethics of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (fusion on-site) (EFIE11163)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course introduces students to the new ethical challenges arising from recent advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous systems. Robots and other autonomous systems are being developed for applications ranging from healthcare and elder care to policing and warfare. In this course we explore how robotic and autonomous technologies can be designed and deployed responsibly and ethically, in ways that enhance rather than degrade human capabilities and wellbeing. |
| Course description |
This course introduces students to the new ethical challenges arising from recent advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous systems. Robots and other autonomous systems are being developed for applications ranging from healthcare and elder care to policing and warfare. In this course we explore how robotic and autonomous technologies can be designed and deployed responsibly and ethically, in ways that enhance rather than degrade human freedom, opportunity and wellbeing.
Topics can include: the ethical design and use of social robots; the special implications of robots used in care settings; the debate over the moral and legal permissibility of robots in military and policing applications; the impact of robots and autonomous systems on the labour economy and the environment; and the implications of these technologies for human capabilities, rights, virtues and dignity. Learning in an innovative hybrid and intensive mode that brings together online and in-person students, you will work together in collaborative groups to practice deliberating with others about the possibilities of living and working alongside robots and autonomous systems, and how we ought to shape these possibilities to align with just and sustainable futures for humanity.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - On-Site Fusion Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. This approach (our 'fusion' teaching model) offers students flexible and inclusive ways to study, and the ability to choose whether to be on-campus or online at the level of the individual course. It also opens up ways for diverse groups of students to study together regardless of geographical location. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- Unless the lecturer or tutor indicates otherwise you should assume the session is being recorded.
As part of your course, you will need access to a personal computing device. Unless otherwise stated activities will be web browser based and as a minimum we recommend a device with a physical keyboard and screen that can access the internet.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 10 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 14,
Online Activities 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
82 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Summative Assessment:
The course will be assessed by means of the following assessment component(s):
1) 1500 Word 'White Paper' / 500 Word Annotated Appendix (100%)
Each student, following the intensive, will choose a case study/controversy in the ethics of robotics and autonomous systems from a prepared list, and conduct independent research on that case/controversy. They will be paired with another student (or two) who have chosen the same study, and asked to work independently for the first week, but meet in the second to share their answers to key questions in the case study and deliberate about areas of reasoned disagreement as well as consensus.
Each will then write an individual 1500 word 'white paper' on their case study for a nonspecialist audience, making a moral argument and advisory recommendation in response to a case study question with practical implications for design and regulation (for example, 'should robots ever be allowed to lie to a human?').
Students must also include a 500 word appendix commenting on their discussion with their paired student(s), and what different factual assumptions, perspectives, values and moral reasons the conversation revealed. |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback will be provided in three stages:
- Pre-intensive phase: the COs will respond to submitted reading questions from the pre-intensive week 1 in a pre-recorded video shared in the second week of the pre-intensive. This will help to shape student understandings of the core issues.
- Intensive phase: In the pre-intensive case studies students will identify salient moral issues and interests in case studies through online posts. Course organisers will provide live formative feedback on these posts on Day 1 of the intensive. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of key concepts, theories, and applications in the field of robot ethics and ethics of autonomous systems, including understandings of the relationships between the concept of a robot, an AI system, an autonomous system, and a machine agent.
- Critically discuss and evaluate a variety of normative perspectives in debates about moral issues in the design, deployment and regulation of robotic and autonomous systems, across multiple domains.
- Work constructively with others to identify salient ethical issues in a case study involving robotic and autonomous systems, form questions that allow deeper investigation, and articulate the relevant moral interests of different groups and stakeholders that developers, regulators and purchasers of these systems must take into account and treat with moral care and respect.
- Produce and clearly communicate for non-specialists in a 'white paper' format a basic analysis and advisory output pertaining to a pressing challenge for ethical design or regulation of robotic/autonomous systems.
- Identify and critically evaluate the different factual assumptions, perspectives, values and moral reasons that shape different positions on key debates in the field of robot/autonomous systems ethics.
|
Reading List
Automation and Future of Work
1. John Danaher: Automation and the Future of the Work Ethic - YouTube. UMass Boston; 2022:1:17:29. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XZEkCE3VvWI
2. Smids J, Nyholm S, Berkers H. Robots in the Workplace: a Threat toor Opportunity forMeaningful Work? Philosophy & technology.
2020;33(3):503-522. doi:10.1007/s13347-019-00377-4
Robots in Care
3. Vandemeulebroucke T, Dierckx de Casterlé B, Gastmans C. Ethics of socially assistive robots in aged-care settings: a socio-historical
contextualisation. Journal of medical ethics. 2020;46(2):128-136. doi:10.1136/medethics-2019-105615
Responsibility and Transparency in Autonomous Systems
4. Mind the Gap: Autonomous Systems, the Responsibility Gap, and Moral Entanglement - YouTube. ACM FAccT Conference; 2022:14:00. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMZnDfgeQMs
5. Lin P, Abney K, Jenkins R, eds. Robot Ethics 2.0 : From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence / Edited by Patrick Lin, Ryan Jenkins, and Keith
Abney. Oxford University Press; 2017. https://academic-oup-com.eux.idm.oclc.org/book/2320/chapter/142468698; Chapter 11, 'White Lies on Silver Tongues: Why Robots Need to Deceive' pp. 157172
6. Gabriel I, Manzini A, Keeling G, et al. The Ethics of Advanced AI Assistants. Published online 2024. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2404.16244, Chapters 1 &
20. Asaro, Peter. "Autonomous weapons and the ethics of artificial intelligence." Ethics of Artificial Intelligence 212 (2020).
Critical Perspectives on Robots, Race and Culture
7. Birhane A, Jelle van Dijk. Robot Rights? Let's Talk about Human Welfare Instead. In Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 207-213. https://doi.org/10.1145/3375627.3375855
8. Cave S, Dihal K. The Whiteness of AI. Philosophy & technology. 2020; 33(4): 685-703. doi:10.1007/s13347-020-00415-6
Recommended Readings (Ethical Frames)
9. Bryson JJ. Patiency is not a virtue: the design of intelligent systems and systems of ethics. Ethics and information technology. 2018;20(1):15-26.
doi:10.1007/s10676-018-9448-6
10. John Danaher SN. Automation, work and the achievement gap. AI and Ethics. 2021;1(3):227-237. doi:10.1007/s43681-020-00028-x
11. Dubber MD, Pasquale F, Das S. The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI. 1st ed. (Pasquale F, Dubber MD, Das S, eds.). Oxford University Press; 2020. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190067397.001.0001
12. Jenkins R, Purves D. Robots and Respect: A Response to Robert Sparrow. Ethics & international affairs. 2016;30(3):391-400. doi:10.1017/
S089267941600027711. Dubber MD, Pasquale F, Das S. The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI. 1st ed. (Pasquale F, Dubber MD, Das S, eds.). Oxford University Press; 2020. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190067397.001.0001
12. Jenkins R, Purves D. Robots and Respect: A Response to Robert Sparrow. Ethics & international affairs. 2016;30(3):391-400. doi:10.1017/
S0892679416000277
13. Sebastian Knell MR. Artificial intelligence, superefficiency and the end of work: a humanistic perspective on meaning in life. AI and Ethics.:1-11. doi:10.1007/s43681-023-00273-w
14. Lin Patrick. Robot Ethics The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics.
(Abney K, Bekey GA, eds.). MIT Press; 2011.
15. Sparrow R. Robots and Respect: Assessing the Case Against Autonomous Weapon Systems. Ethics & international affairs. 2016;30(1):93-116. doi:10.1017/S0892679415000647
16. Vallor S. Carebots and Caregivers: Sustaining the Ethical Ideal of Care in the Twenty-First Century. Philosophy & technology. 2011;24(3):251-268. doi:10.1007/s13347-011-0015-x
Further Reading
17. Lin P, Abney K, Jenkins R, eds. Robot Ethics 2.0 : From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence / Edited by Patrick Lin, Ryan Jenkins, and Keith
Abney. Oxford University Press; 2017.
18. Darling K (Research specialist). The New Breed : How to Think about Robots / Kate Darling. Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books; 2021.
19. Blobel B, Ruotsalainen P, Brochhausen M, Oemig F, Uribe GA. Autonomous Systems and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Transformation to 5P Medicine - Ethical Challenges. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 2020 Jun 16; 270:1089-1093. doi: 10.3233/SHTI200330
20. Coeckelbergh M. Robot Rights? Towards a Social-Relational Justification of Moral Consideration. Ethics and information technology.
2010;12(3):209-221. doi:10.1007/s10676-010-9235-5
21. Giubilini A, Savulescu J. The Artificial Moral Advisor. The Ideal Observer Meets Artificial Intelligence. Philosophy & technology. 2018;31(2):169-188. doi:10.1007/s13347-017-0285-z
22. Lin P, Abney K, Bekey GA. Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics. (Abney K, Bekey GA, Lin P, Bekey G, Abney K, Lin
P, eds.). MIT Press; 2012:1-386.
23. Sætra HS. Robotomorphy: Becoming our creations. AI and ethics. 2022;2(1):5-13. doi:10.1007/s43681-021-00092-x
24. Poulsen A, Anderson M, Anderson SL, et al. Responses to a Critique of Artificial Moral Agents. Published online 2019. doi:10.48550/arxiv.1903.07021
25. Robbins-van Wynsberghe AL, Robbins SA. Critiquing the Reasons for Making Artificial Moral Agents. Science and engineering ethics.
2019;25(3):719-735. doi:10.1007/s11948-018-0030-8
26. Vallor S. Moral Deskilling and Upskilling in a New Machine Age: Reflections on the Ambiguous Future of Character. Philosophy & technology.
2015;28(1):107-124. doi:10.1007/s13347-014-0156-9
27. Wallach W. Moral Machines : Teaching Robots Right from Wrong / Wendell Wallach, Colin Allen. First O.U.P. paperback edition. (Allen C, ed.). Oxford University Press; 2010. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding:
- A critical understanding of a range of specialised theories, concepts and principles drawn from multiple disciplinary and practitioner perspectives.
- A critical awareness of current challenges and debates in an emerging research area involving multiple specialisms.
Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding:
- Ability to apply critical knowledge to concrete case studies, research outputs, applications and proposals.
- Ability to identify potential challenges in a case study, as related to design, use and regulation.
- Ability to demonstrate originality and/or creativity, including in practice.
Generic Cognitive Skills:
- Development of original and creative responses to problems and issues.
- Capacity to critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge, skills, practices and thinking across disciplines, subjects, and sectors.
- Ability to deal with complex issues and make informed judgements in situations in the absence of complete or consistent data/information.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills:
- Communication, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge/expertise.
- Ability to articulate clear and well-justified advisory recommendations.
Autonomy, Accountability, and Working with Others:
- Skills to manage their own individual contribution to a group presentation or report.
- The ability to engage constructively and productively in critical debate. |
| Keywords | Robot Ethics,Robotics,Autonomous Agents,Artificial Intelligence,Human Rights,Capabilities,EFI,PG |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Cristina Richie
Tel:
Email: crichie2@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Veronica Silvestre
Tel:
Email: Veronica.Silvestre@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage