As they become smarter and more widespread, autonomous machines are bound to end up making life-or-death decisions in unpredictable situations, thus assuming\u201d\u201dor at least appearing to assume\u201d\u201dmoral agency. Weapons systems currently have human operators \u201cin the loop\u201d\u009d, but as they grow more sophisticated, it will be possible to shift to \u201con the loop\u201d\u009d operation, with machines carrying out orders autonomously.<\/p>\n
As that happens, they will be presented with ethical dilemmas. Should a drone fire on a house where a target is known to be hiding, which may also be sheltering civilians? Should a driverless car swerve to avoid pedestrians if that means hitting other vehicles or endangering its occupants? Should a robot involved in disaster recovery tell people the truth about what is happening if that risks causing a panic? Such questions have led to the emergence of the field of \u201cmachine ethics\u201d\u009d, which aims to give machines the ability to make such choices appropriately\u201d\u201din other words, to tell right from wrong….<\/p>\n