Week 17 - 'MEPs vote on robots' legal status - and if a kill switch is required'

'MEPs vote on robots' legal status - and if a kill switch is required'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38583360

• believes the world is on the cusp of a "new industrial" robot revolution
• give robots legal status as "electronic persons"
• Designers should make sure any robots have a kill switch, which would allow functions to be shut down if necessary
• "Blue whales and gorillas don't have personhood but I would suggest that they have as many aspects of humanity as robots, so I don't see why we should jump into giving robots this status."
• Robot/human relationships raise issues around privacy, human dignity (particularly in relation to care robots) and the physical safety of humans if systems fail or are hacked

The fact that robots are the next development for new and digital media shows the extent of artificial intelligence and also reveals the fears around the issues of AI, from the potential struggle within economies and the possible issues of privacy. Furthermore, with the huge advancements with hacking and privacy concerns the ease for hacking into a robot therefore should be considered and this would raise a number of concerns especially if a care robot for example was hacked, the owner of this robot would most probably be vulnerable therefore raises ethical concerns.