Ethical governance is essential to building trust in robotics and artificial intelligence systems

Alan F T Winfield; Marina Jirotka

doi:10.1098/rsta.2018.0085

Ethical governance is essential to building trust in robotics and artificial intelligence systems

Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2018 Oct 15;376(2133):20180085. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2018.0085.

Authors

Alan F T Winfield¹, Marina Jirotka²

Affiliations

¹ Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, UK alan.winfield@uwe.ac.uk.
² Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QD, UK.

Abstract

This paper explores the question of ethical governance for robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) systems. We outline a roadmap-which links a number of elements, including ethics, standards, regulation, responsible research and innovation, and public engagement-as a framework to guide ethical governance in robotics and AI. We argue that ethical governance is essential to building public trust in robotics and AI, and conclude by proposing five pillars of good ethical governance.This article is part of the theme issue 'Governing artificial intelligence: ethical, legal, and technical opportunities and challenges'.

Keywords: artificial intelligence ethics; governance; responsible innovation; robot ethics; standards; trust.