The Fine Line Between Machine and Moral Agent

Around November of last year Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Space X, was in a state between drunk and high during the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Between the typical conversations, you have while being stoned, out came a profound statement about the future of technology and Artificial Intelligence. Elon believes that the government should start regulating AI and placing limits on what capabilities they can implement since there can come a time where an AI computers act completely autonomous without its creator having control over it. In his own words, he said he has talked about this issue with President Obama and congress but They just won't listen until something bad happens. At which point it'll be too late.

The issue of whether the government should get involved in regulating AI is a whole other discussion in itself. What's truly remarkable is the fact that there is a concern that a machine we built to think by itself may turn their back on us and that seems like something straight out of a science fiction novel. But who is truly responsible for the harm that the machine causes? Is it the creator of the moral agent or is AI a moral agent that can make moral decisions? Floridi and Sanders in their paper "On the Morality of Artificial Agents" discuss that an agent should be held accountable for their actions depending on their interactivity with his surroundings, autonomy, and adaptability to change their perception depending on the situation.

The ramifications of giving moral agency to AI are groundbreaking, to say the least. If an AI is responsible for their actions then they can be punished for crimes they commit, we are essentially admitting that they are our equals and that they have free will to act as they choose. We are attributing that they have a conscience and that they have rights that should be protected. They will develop what is known as feelings and opinions. They are essentially a whole new species of people that we created. That's why this question is so important for the future of mankind. We are able to see a glimpse of it with creations such as these chatbots in the video were they have quite an interesting conversation. https://youtu.be/WnzlbyTZsQY