Prescott Tony J, Robillard Julie M
Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
iScience. 2020 Dec 26;24(1):101993. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101993. eCollection 2021 Jan 22.
Social robots that can interact and communicate with people are growing in popularity for use at home and in customer-service, education, and healthcare settings. Although growing evidence suggests that co-operative and emotionally aligned social robots could benefit users across the lifespan, controversy continues about the ethical implications of these devices and their potential harms. In this perspective, we explore this balance between benefit and risk through the lens of human-robot relationships. We review the definitions and purposes of social robots, explore their philosophical and psychological status, and relate research on human-human and human-animal relationships to the emerging literature on human-robot relationships. Advocating a relational rather than essentialist view, we consider the balance of benefits and harms that can arise from different types of relationship with social robots and conclude by considering the role of researchers in understanding the ethical and societal impacts of social robotics.
能够与人互动和交流的社交机器人在家庭、客户服务、教育和医疗保健环境中的使用越来越普遍。尽管越来越多的证据表明，合作且情感契合的社交机器人可以在人的一生中为用户带来益处，但关于这些设备的伦理影响及其潜在危害的争议仍在继续。从这个角度出发，我们通过人机关系的视角来探讨这种利弊平衡。我们回顾了社交机器人的定义和用途，探讨了它们的哲学和心理地位，并将关于人与人、人与动物关系的研究与新兴的人机关系文献联系起来。我们倡导一种关系论而非本质主义的观点，考虑与社交机器人不同类型关系中可能产生的利弊平衡，并通过思考研究人员在理解社交机器人伦理和社会影响方面的作用来得出结论。
