On 10/29/2015 6:44 PM, Jason Resch wrote:
On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 11:18 PM, Russell Standish
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 09:11:34PM -0500, Jason Resch wrote:
> At some level, an algorithm cannot be held responsible for its
actions
> because it was doing the only thing it could do, what it was
programmed to
> do. At some point between a simplistic algorithm and a human
level AI,
> however, we seem able to assigning responsibility/culpability.
What does an
> algorithm minimally have to have before it reaches this point?
>
> The ability to learn?
> Understanding of the consequences of its actions?
> Rights that it cares about?
> Personhood?
>
None of those things are required to assign legal responsibility. For
example, a company can be held legally responsible, but a company is
not a person, nor is it conscious, nor need it learn (although
companies can learn).
I think all that is required is a sense of agency, that holding
something responsible is sufficient to affect the actions of that
agent.
If a robot can process the notion of responsibility such that its
actions will be affected by it, then yes it can be held responsible
regardless of whether any conscious understanding exists.
What are the minimum requirements to program agency?
It seems to be, if a program cannot learn/alter itself, it cannot be
held responsible, for it is doing only what it was programmed to do.
Suppose the program is designed to learn from experience. Then when it
learns from experience, does that mean it's altering itself or just
doing what it was programmed to do?
See Daniel Dennett's excellent little book "Elbow Room".
Brent
You can escape responsibility for everything, if you make yourself small
enough.
--- Daniel Dennett
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