Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Commons^™

Perceptions Of Violations By Artificial And Human Actors Across Moral Foundations, Timothy Maninger, Daniel Burton Shank

Psychological Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Artificial agents such as robots, chatbots, and artificial intelligence systems can be the perpetrators of a range of moral violations traditionally limited to human actors. This paper explores how people perceive the same moral violations differently for artificial agent and human perpetrators by addressing three research questions: How wrong are moral foundation violations by artificial agents compared to human perpetrators? Which moral foundations do artificial agents violate compared to human perpetrators? What leads to increased blame for moral foundation violations by artificial agents compared to human perpetrators? We adapt 18 human-perpetrated moral violation scenarios that differ by the moral foundation …