debate: - Liability of Machine Made Decision
Liability of machine-made decisions
Opponent Side: Machines are no worse in making decisions than humans
Everyday technology becomes more advanced, available, and involved in our daily life. There are a wide range of things using machine-made decisions to operate, for example cars, apps, and planes. It might not appear like much, but we trust most of these examples without questions. The average consumer typically won’t understand how a machine or program makes a decision. When you use apps like Uber or Lyft, the app produces a number based on a calculation it made. An article I found explained Uber uses machine learning for ETAs, pickup locations, fraud detection, and price. For the consumer, there is not much they can say to influence this interaction, it is simply produced by the app. This situation might not seem like much, but it led to a slippery slope. If we look at modern cars, most come with emergency braking, radar cruise control, and even Tesla labels their cruise control as “Autopilot”. A vehicle moving at speed is far more of a danger than an app making a decision, but trust is still placed with the machines. There have been several instances of Tesla’s crashing into other vehicles or objects while engaged in autopilot. An article explained how the Tesla uses radar, cameras, and sensors to detect objects. Yet a Model S managed to rear end a fire-truck at a stop light, at 60 MPH. Tesla did not specify fault, but said drivers should remain alert while using autopilot. The creators of the program that could easily have led to a fatality is simply not held accountable.
Associated Press. (2018). Tesla that crashed into truck was on Autopilot. https://nypost.com/2018/05/14/tesla-that-crashed-into-truck-was-on-autopilot/
Narula, G. (2018). Everyday Examples of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. https://www.techemergence.com/everyday-examples-of-ai/