Catching Feelings

Artificial intelligence is defined as any computer systems that can do a function that would typically require some form of human intelligence such as speech recognition, visual perception, or decision making. Therefore, I would consider Ava and Ash 2.0 as examples or artificial intelligence. They are both very advanced forms of artificial intelligence because they are literal emulations of human beings. Earlier in the semester we debated whether or not our everyday electronics were moral agents, and if we held any moral obligations to them. As a class, we came to a consensus that we did not have any moral obligation to our gadgets, just as they had none to us.  In our discussion we used the examples of our smart phones, laptops, and other common electronics. Therefore, it was easy for us to decide that we had zero moral obligation to them, and vice versa. However, when that same artificial intelligence is in human form it somehow enters an ethical grey area for most people. Ava and Ash 2.0 specifically seemed to land in a grey area because of the context from which they were invented. During the modern day Turing test that Ava was a part of she was supposed to convince Caleb, and us as an audience that she was as human like as possible. During this process she flirts with him, and makes a special connection with Caleb that even he was not prepared for. I cannot say that Caleb held any moral obligation to her just as the humanoid robot that she was. However, his moral obligation to her began when he felt that he had a genuine human like connection to her. I think that it what ultimately made her pass the Turing Test. Ava was programmed to form relationships, and that alone will make another human have some form moral obligation to them. Comparable to the relationships that we share with our pets; they seem to create some sort of a bond with us where we feel that we should be morally obligated to them. Also, for example with dogs, they almost seem like they share some sort of moral obligation to their owners as well. However, when we speak of other humans I think that we have the moral obligation to help each other when we are in need. We also have the moral obligation to make sure that humans receive what some would call basic human rights. The rights of health, shelter, and freedom from human captivity should be what we morally oblige to other humans. Although, with “inorganic” humanoids I do think that we have the same innate moral obligation to them. We have to think about why they were invented. Humanoids typically are not built to just live the common everyday life as humans. They usually are built to carry out some sort of task, whether it be to teach, care for, or for sexual uses. They are becoming more human like just so they will realistically carry out more human like tasks. So the moral obligation comes in when the actual human decides that they have some form of relationship with the humanoid. Furthermore, I do not think that the robots will have the genuine feelings back to them, but they will be programmed to exhibit the feelings or emotions necessary to carry out the task that they were built to do just as Ava did.