The ethics of macines which mimic people

Abstract

In presenting machines as “intelligent” we produce an illusion which may be beneficial, may lead to breakdown in the interaction, or may be used by parties to deceive and exploit others. The following quote (from a researcher at a major computer firm) is a bit extreme, but makes it clear the concern clear. “From my point of view, natural language processing is unethical for one main reason: It plays on the central position which language holds in human behavior. I suggest that the deep involvement Weizenbaum found some people to have with ELIZA, is due to the intensity with which most people react to language in any form. When a person sees a lingusitic utterance in any form, the person reacts, much as a dog reacts to an odor. We are creatures of language .... Since this is so, it is my feeling that baiting people with strings of characters (tokens) clearly intended by someone to be interpreted as SYMBOLS, is as much misrepresentation as would be your attempt to sell me property for which you had a false deed. In both cases, an attempt is made to encourage someone to believe that something is a thing other than what it is, AND, only one party in the interaction is aware of the deception.” This talk will examine the ethical and practical choices in developing machines which mimic human behavior.