Autonomy: weapons and vehicles

Autonomy is a term of deep ethical significance in philosophy; it is also a marketing term for a variety of consumer and military technologies. This lesson will discuss the ethical dimensions of autonomy in two specific cases: autonomous weapons systems and autonomous vehicles. Your assignment for this lesson is to review the material from lecture and write a normal length post on the ethics of autonomy and AI.

Required readings:

• Roff and Moyes (2016) Meaningful Human Control, Artificial Intelligence, and Autonomous Weapons
• Lin (2016): Why Ethics Matters for Autonomous Cars

Optional readings:

• Asaro (2016): “Hands up, Don’t shoot!” HRI and the Automation of Police Use of Force
• FLI: Open letter on autonomous weapons