Artificial Emotions and the Evolving Moral Status of Social Robots
Original version
HRI '24: Proceedings of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. (2024). Association for Computing Machinery. 10.1145/3610977.3634934Abstract
This article aims to explore the potential impact of artificial emotional intelligence (AEI) on the ethical standing of social robots. By examining how AEI interacts with and potentially reshapes the two dominant perspectives on robots’ moral status, namely the property-oriented approach and the social-relational approach, we aim to offer fresh insights into this pressing dilemma. Our analysis reveals that although the incorporation of AEI does not conclusively confer moral status to current social robots, it might challenge the boundaries that separate robots from other entities customarily considered to have more status, thereby increasing the complexity of the debate.