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Who's Responsible When Robots Kill?

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
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With all the wars ended, cancer cured and world peace, the greatest minds on the planet will meet next month to answer the question on everyone's mind..."who is at fault when a robot kills?" I wish I was joking. :(

Why ask the question? Well, imagine that today’s robot vacuums and floor washers (like the recently upgraded Scooba) eventually spawn cousins who mow lawns and trim hedges. Now imagine that robot hedge trimmer chopping off your neighbor’s arm.
 
The net result will be to absolve corporations of any responsibility since the beginning of time.
 
Her name is Yoshimi
she's a black belt in karate
working for the city
she has to discipline her body

'Cause she knows that
it's demanding
to defeat those evil machines
I know she can beat them

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me
 
Her name is Yoshimi
she's a black belt in karate
working for the city
she has to discipline her body

'Cause she knows that
it's demanding
to defeat those evil machines
I know she can beat them

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots eat me
Yoshimi, they don't believe me
but you won't let those robots defeat me

Asian rap?
 
Well, if my dog bites someone, I'm responsible for the damages. So how about whoever owned the robot last?
 
The manufacture of the robots is to blame. When you tell Siri-1000 to grab his case and it understands it as stab his face, it is the manufactures fault for not building a smarter robot.
 
It's a good question, I don't know why you feel the need to make fun of it.

"Last person who owned it" seems rather shortsighted. What if the malicious code was injected at production? What if the cause of the murder was a virus, glitch, or malfunction?
 
"Last person who owned it" seems rather shortsighted. What if the malicious code was injected at production? What if the cause of the murder was a virus, glitch, or malfunction?
If the code was injected at production or was a virus, than the one who put the code in is responsible, of course.

But when it comes to glitches and malfunction, it still falls on the owner. If my dog glitches out and tears someone's arm to shreds, that's on me.
 
If the code was injected at production or was a virus, than the one who put the code in is responsible, of course.

But when it comes to glitches and malfunction, it still falls on the owner. If my dog glitches out and tears someone's arm to shreds, that's on me.

Unless you fiddled with the robots code I don't see how the owner could be held liable over the manufacturer. A dog is a domesticated animal and still has killer instincts. People keep them in spite of this. A robot only does what it's code tells it to do; which is going to be the manufacturers doing.
 
Unless you fiddled with the robots code I don't see how the owner could be held liable over the manufacturer. A dog is a domesticated animal and still has killer instincts. People keep them in spite of this. A robot only does what it's code tells it to do; which is going to be the manufacturers doing.

What about fiddling with the code installing a standard software package from a third party-company? open source-group? or a standard bios provided by hardocp.com's robot section forum.
 
What about fiddling with the code installing a standard software package from a third party-company? open source-group? or a standard bios provided by hardocp.com's robot section forum.

I'd be willing to bet that using unapproved 3rd party software on a robot that could kill someone will be prohibited by the manufacturer. If you do it I'd be willing to bet it would be strictly at your own risk and void any liability or warranty from the manufacturer. So your fault. You modified it, even if you didn't write the code yourself. That's how I'd do it anyway. Always count on a company to do everything it can to cover it's own ass.
 
It should be the manufacturer's liability unless you installed uncertified software, and if I were the manufacturer, I'd make damn sure that it is flawless before I certify it.

If not, then it's owner's liability. Or the programmer's if the programmer so chooses to not put that it's on the owner's head when the program goes wrong. Which will never happen unless the progammer's an idiot.
 
Your neighbour deserved what he got.

Don't be a lazy ass. Do shit for yourself.
 
What happens when we make machines make us make them make us them?

has_anynoe.jpg
 
Im sure by the time we have robots that are capable to handle greenery sheers, affordable, and smart enough to do it accurately, we'll have some kind of implementations in place to cover this... some 65+ years from now.
 
Lately, you guys at [H] are posting some really stupid stuff. Seems that reality in the present poses enough problems.
 
I worked with the Cincinnati Milicron h series robots in the early 80s. When I read this I thought that they must have killed some people. I did a search for killed by hydraulic robot and found this to be true. Poorly maintained they were very dangerous.
 
Anyone give any though to the many variations of militarized robots that exist and are currently in development.

No human controls, just a weapons platform, a program and a prayer.
 
Anyone give any though to the many variations of militarized robots that exist and are currently in development.

No human controls, just a weapons platform, a program and a prayer.

The prayer part isn't even allowed anymore.
 
I blame these guys for the deviant behaviour of every robot - past, present and future:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGSVYgcy24Q

Oh, and forget pioneering any actual development - let's figure out who to sue first! ;)

When the time comes and owning a robot or fleet of robots becomes the norm, manufacturers would have designed them safely (or close enough to it) and already protected themselves in any legal way they could.

In the event they do become common however, who's to say that these things can be flashed or rooted like a cellphone?

Inevitably, responsibility will be the owner's concern. I'm no AI expert, but I'll assume that these things will undoubtedly have some vulnerability when produced that someone else could potentially exploit (code, etc).
 
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