Financial Times: AI’s Rapid Advance Sparks Call for Code for Robots

The artificial intelligence, or AI, field has experienced great advances, with recent innovations enabling robots to become increasingly autonomous. Many AI inventions, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, are benefiting society and quickly become routine for users. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the potential for robot-induced destruction is emerging. In August, two Chinese chat bots were taken down after hackers used the bots to post unpatriotic comments about the Communist Party. In 2016, a driver was killed while using the autopilot mode in the semi-autonomous Tesla, which failed to spot an oncoming truck in bright sunlight. And analysts and makers worry about development of autonomous weapons systems, and the potential for these machines to function without a human pulling the trigger. As AI’s global presence steadily increases, so does the need for proper regulation. The question facing the industry is who should regulate these machines and how so. As robots acquire higher levels of cognition and functioning, such as Hanson Robotics’ lifelike Sophia, should the robot, creator or user be held responsible for its actions? – YaleGlobal