"If an autonomous robot kills someone, whose fault is it?" said Professor Winfield. "Right now, that's not an issue because the responsibility lies with the designer or operator of that robot; but as robots become more autonomous that line or responsibility becomes blurred."
Are we talking about true AI here? In that case the designers can claim that the robot is able for taking desicions on it's own, so they are not responsible. Like when today they claim mechanical faulure and nobody goes to jail, they will blame the robot for the accident. But in the case of an inteligent robot, should we grant them some civilian rights? The right to defent himself in a court and have an attorney? (-and of course the right to remain silent :) ) Of course punishing a robot has no meaning for us, but it might be able to argue that the real resposibility falls on a real person. So, if some people wish to deny resposibility for robo-accidents, this will automatically give some basic rights to robots and AI. Do you agree? Can this open the way for more roborights?
