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"Autonomous robots Fiction."
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The clockwork dynasty : a novel
\"In the rugged landscape of eastern Oregon, a young scientist named June uncovers an exquisite artifact--a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll whose existence seems to validate her obsession with a harrowing story she was told by her grandfather many years earlier. The mechanical doll, June believes, is proof of a living race of automatons that walk undetected among us to this day. Ingeniously hidden inside the ancient doll is a lost message, addressed to the court of Peter the Great, czar of Russia. Russia, 1725: Peter and Elena, two human-like mechanical beings, are brought to life under the watchful guise of Peter the Great. Their struggle to serve in the court of the czar while blending in, and to survive amid those who fear and wish to annihilate them, will take Peter and Elena across Russia, Europe, and, ultimately, across the centuries to modern day.\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Fear of Autonomous Robots and Artificial Intelligence: Evidence from National Representative Data with Probability Sampling
People vary in the extent to which they report fear toward robots, especially when they perceive that the robot is autonomous or has artificial intelligence. This research examines a specific form of sociological fear, which we name as fear of autonomous robots and artificial intelligence (FARAI). This fear may serve to affect how people will respond to and interact with robots. Applying data from a nationally representative dataset with probability sampling (
N
= 1541), research questions examine (1) the extent and frequency of FARAI, (2) demographic and media exposure predictors, and (3) correlates with other types of fear (i.e., loneliness, drones, and unemployment). A latent class analysis reveals that approximately 26% of participants reported experiencing a heightened level of FARAI. Demographic analyses show that FARAI is connected to participant sex, age, education, and household income; albeit these effects were small. Media exposure to science fiction predicts FARAI above and beyond the demographic variables. Correlational results indicate that FARAI is associated with other types of fear, including loneliness, becoming unemployed, and drone use. In sum, these findings render a much needed glimpse and update regarding how much individuals fear robots and artificial intelligence.
Journal Article
Fear of AI: an inquiry into the adoption of autonomous cars in spite of fear, and a theoretical framework for the study of artificial intelligence technology acceptance
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of the everyday. During this transition, people’s intention to use AI technologies is still unclear and emotions such as fear are influencing it. In this paper, we focus on autonomous cars to first verify empirically the extent to which people fear AI and then examine the impact that fear has on their intention to use AI-driven vehicles. Our research is based on a systematic survey and it reveals that while individuals are largely afraid of cars that are driven by AI, they are nonetheless willing to adopt this technology as soon as possible. To explain this tension, we extend our analysis beyond just fear and show that people also believe that AI-driven cars will generate many individual, urban and global benefits. Subsequently, we employ our empirical findings as the foundations of a theoretical framework meant to illustrate the main factors that people ponder when they consider the use of AI tech. In addition to offering a comprehensive theoretical framework for the study of AI technology acceptance, this paper provides a nuanced understanding of the tension that exists between the fear and adoption of AI, capturing what exactly people fear and intend to do.
Journal Article
The evitability of autonomous robot warfare
This is a call for the prohibition of autonomous lethal targeting by free-ranging robots. This article will first point out the three main international humanitarian law (IHL)/ethical issues with armed autonomous robots and then move on to discuss a major stumbling block to their evitability: misunderstandings about the limitations of robotic systems and artificial intelligence. This is partly due to a mythical narrative from science fiction and the media, but the real danger is in the language being used by military researchers and others to describe robots and what they can do. The article will look at some anthropomorphic ways that robots have been discussed by the military and then go on to provide a robotics case study in which the language used obfuscates the IHL issues. Finally, the article will look at problems with some of the current legal instruments and suggest a way forward to prohibition.
Journal Article
When stigmatization does not work: over-securitization in efforts of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
This article reflects on securitization efforts with respect to ‘killer robots’, known more impartially as autonomous weapons systems (AWS). Our contribution focuses, theoretically and empirically, on the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a transnational advocacy network vigorously pushing for a pre-emptive ban on AWS. Marking exactly a decade of its activity, there is still no international regime formally banning, or even purposefully regulating, AWS. Our objective is to understand why the Campaign has not been able to advance its disarmament agenda thus far, despite all the resources, means and support at its disposal. For achieving this objective, we challenge the popular assumption that strong stigmatization is the universally best strategy towards humanitarian disarmament. We investigate the consequences of two specifics present in AWS, which set them apart from processes and successes of the campaigns to ban anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, and laser-blinding weapons: the complexity of AWS as a distinct weapons category, and the subsequent circumvention of its complexity through the utilization of pop-culture, namely science fiction imagery. We particularly focus on two mechanisms through which such distortion has occurred: hybridization and grafting. These provide the conceptual basis and heuristic tools to unpack the paradox of over-securitization: success in broadening the stakeholder base in relation to the first mechanism and deepening the sense of insecurity in relation to the second one does not necessarily lead to the achievement of the desired prohibitory norm. In conclusion, we ask whether it is not the time for a more epistemically-oriented expert debate with a less ambitious, lowest common denominator strategy as the preferred model of arms control for such a complex weapons category.
Journal Article
Merging Minds and Machines: The Role of Advancing AI in Robotics
The relentless pursuit of creating intelligent robotic systems has led to a symbiotic relationship between human inventiveness and artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial intelligence is a theory. It is the development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks that would require human intelligence. This abstract explores the pivotal role that AI plays in advancing the capabilities and applications of robotic systems. The integration of AI algorithms and machine learning techniques has launched robotics beyond mere automation, enabling machines to modify, alter, adjust, learn, and interact with the world in ways previously deemed science fiction. Design fictions that vividly imagines future scenarios of AI or robotics in use offer a means both to explain and query the technological possibilities. Examples of these tasks are visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. The three key dimensions of AI’s role in robotics are Cognitive Augmentation, Human-Robot Collaboration, and Autonomous Intelligence. The abstract also discusses the societal implications of this AI-driven advancement in robotic systems, including ethical considerations, job market impacts, and the democratization of access to advanced technology. The convergence of human intellect and artificial intelligence in robotics marks a transformative era where machines become not just tools, but companions, collaborators, and cognitive extensions of human capabilities. Researchers are taking inspiration from the brain and considering alternative architectures in which networks of artificial neurons and synapses process information with high speed and adaptive learning capabilities in an energy-efficient, scalable manner. The indispensable role of AI in shaping the future of robotic systems and bridging the gap between human potential and machine capabilities is highlighted. The major impact of this synergy reverberates across industries, promising the world where robots become not just mechanical contraptions / defective apparatus but intelligent partners in our journey of progress.
Journal Article
Banning Lethal Autonomous Weapons: An Education
Lethal autonomous weapons systems--commonly but misleadingly known as \"killer robots\"--are weapons systems that, once activated, can attack objects and people without further human intervention. With more than a dozen nations working to develop highly capable versions of them for use in the air, at sea, and on land, these weapons are not science fiction: they exist now, and they are already being used in some current conflicts. Since 2014, the United Nations has held discussions around a treaty to ban autonomous weapons systems (AWS). So far, in addition to the UN secretary-general and the International Committee of the Red Cross, 30 countries have declared support for such a treaty. But the US and Russia have combined forces to prevent any discussion of a legally binding instrument. Instead, in 2021 the US called for a \"non-binding code of conduct.\"
Journal Article
A Preliminary Survey of Muslim Experts’ Views on Artificial Intelligence
There should be a great deal of concern over the extensive and still expanding application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in Muslim life today. From the use of smartphones, drones, robots, autonomous vehicles and weapons technologies, the transformation caused by AI is significantly positive but much is still up for debate and contemplation. In fact, some Muslims may merely consider this rapid growth of AI as part of science fiction which is being popularised in movies. This incognizant view is dangerous because Muslims may not be alert to unforeseen AI impact especially when it crosses over Islamic ethical or legal limits. These interpretations should provide an appropriate context for Muslim experts today to rethink their views with regards to the transformative impact of AI on Muslim society. This preliminary study therefore, is conducted to gather Muslim experts’ professional views on AI related issues. Using a quantitative methodology approach with a cross-sectional study design, 37 experts responded to the personal, online questionnaire emailed to them. The findings generally indicate the respondents’ insensitivity towards the greater extent of AI impact on Muslim consumers at large. However, most of the respondents were agreeable on the urgent need for regulations so that AI is geared and harvested for its benefits in enhancing Muslim life. This signifies the importance of thorough and strict regulations for AI research and technology to adhere to Islamic principles. A specific framework development underpinned by Maqasid al-Shari’ah is recommended to address the various contemporary issues of AI impact.
Journal Article
AMORAL MACHINES, OR: HOW ROBOTICISTS CAN LEARN TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE LAW
The media and academic dialogue surrounding high-stakes decisionmaking by robotics applications has been dominated by a focus on morality. But the tendency to do so while overlooking the role that legal incentives play in shaping the behavior of profit-maximizing firms risks marginalizing the field of robotics and rendering many of the deepest challenges facing today's engineers utterly intractable. This Essay attempts to both halt this trend and offer a course correction. Invoking Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes's canonical analogy of the \"bad man . . . who cares nothing for . . . ethical rules,\" it demonstrates why philosophical abstractions like the trolley problem-in their classic framing-provide a poor means of understanding the real-world constraints robotics engineers face. Using insights gleaned from the economic analysis of law, it argues that profit-maximizing firms designing autonomous decisionmaking systems will be less concerned with esoteric questions of right and wrong than with concrete questions of predictive legal liability. Until such time as the conversation surrounding so-called \"moral machines\" is revised to reflect this fundamental distinction between morality and law, the thinking on this topic by philosophers, engineers, and policymakers alike will remain hopelessly mired. Step aside, roboticists-lawyers have this one.
Journal Article
A (Very) Brief History of Artificial Intelligence
In this brief history, the beginnings of artificial intelligence are traced to philosophy, fiction, and imagination. Early inventions in electronics, engineering, and many other disciplines have influenced AI. Some early milestones include work in problems solving which included basic work in learning, knowledge representation, and inference as well as demonstration programs in language understanding, translation, theorem proving, associative memory, and knowledge‐based systems. The article ends with a brief examination of influential organizations and current issues facing the field.
Journal Article