Blame-Laden Moral Rebukes and the Morally Competent Robot: A Confucian Ethical Perspective
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Blame‑Laden Moral Rebukes and the Morally Competent Robot: A Confucian Ethical Perspective Qin Zhu1 · Tom Williams2 · Blake Jackson2 · Ruchen Wen2
© Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Empirical studies have suggested that language-capable robots have the persuasive power to shape the shared moral norms based on how they respond to human norm violations. This persuasive power presents cause for concern, but also the opportunity to persuade humans to cultivate their own moral development. We argue that a truly socially integrated and morally competent robot must be willing to communicate its objection to humans’ proposed violations of shared norms by using strategies such as blame-laden rebukes, even if doing so may violate other standing norms, such as politeness. By drawing on Confucian ethics, we argue that a robot’s ability to employ blame-laden moral rebukes to respond to unethical human requests is crucial for cultivating a flourishing “moral ecology” of human–robot interaction. Such positive moral ecology allows human teammates to develop their own moral reflection skills and grow their own virtues. Furthermore, this ability can and should be considered as one criterion for assessing artificial moral agency. Finally, this paper discusses potential implications of the Confucian theories for designing socially integrated and morally competent robots. Keywords Blame-laden moral rebukes · Morally competent robots · Confucian ethics · Robot ethics · Role ethics · Moral cultivation
Introduction Recent research has demonstrated that humans often perceive robots as moral agents, which suggests that robots will be expected to adhere to the moral norms that govern human behavior. Moreover, our own recent research shows that robots may unintentionally influence the moral norms that humans believe to apply within
* Qin Zhu [email protected] 1
Division of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, USA
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Department of Computer Science, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, USA
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their current context. As such, we argue that a truly socially integrated robot must be able to clearly communicate its willingness to adhere to shared moral norms. Such a robot must also be willing to communicate its objection to others’ proposed violations of such norms through reactions such as blame-laden moral rebukes, even if such rebukes would violate other standing norms (e.g., politeness) that are also necessary for human–robot interaction. Based on how robots respond to norm violations, they have the persuasive power to weaken or strengthen the shared moral norms in human–robot interaction. By drawing on Confucian ethics,1 we argue that this ability to respond to unethical human requests using blame-laden moral rebukes is crucial for robots to cultivate the “moral ecology” of the human–robot interaction, and can and should be considered as one criterion for assessing a robot’s level of artificial moral agency.
Empirical Studies: The Persuasive Power of Robots in Huma
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