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1. Comparing Strategies for Robot Communication of Role-Grounded Moral Norms

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3434074.3447185  

   Wen, Ruchen; Kim, Boyoung; Phillips, Elizabeth; Zhu, Qin; Williams, Tom (March 2021, ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction)

   null (Ed.)

   Because robots are perceived as moral agents, they hold significant persuasive power over humans. It is thus crucial for robots to behave in accordance with human systems of morality and to use effective strategies for human-robot moral communication. In this work, we evaluate two moral communication strategies: a norm-based strategy grounded in deontological ethics, and a role-based strategy grounded in role ethics, in order to test the effectiveness of these two strategies in encouraging compliance with norms grounded in role expectations. Our results suggest two major findings: (1) reflective exercises may increase the efficacy of role-based moral language and (2) opportunities for moral practice following robots’ use of moral language may facilitate role-centered moral cultivation. 

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2. Blame-Laden Moral Rebukes and the Morally Competent Robot: A Confucian Ethical Perspective

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-020-00246-w  

   Zhu, Qin; Williams, Tom; Jackson, Blake; Wen, Ruchen (January 2020, Science and Engineering Ethics)

   Empirical studies have suggested that language-capable robots have the persuasive power to shape the shared moral norms based on how they respond to human norm violations. This persuasive power presents cause for concern, but also the opportunity to persuade humans to cultivate their own moral development. We argue that a truly socially integrated and morally competent robot must be willing to communicate its objection to humans’ proposed violations of shared norms by using strategies such as blame-laden rebukes, even if doing so may violate other standing norms, such as politeness. By drawing on Confucian ethics, we argue that a robot’s ability to employ blame-laden moral rebukes to respond to unethical human requests is crucial for cultivating a flourishing “moral ecology” of human–robot interaction. Such positive moral ecology allows human teammates to develop their own moral reflection skills and grow their own virtues. Furthermore, this ability can and should be considered as one criterion for assessing artificial moral agency. Finally, this paper discusses potential implications of the Confucian theories for designing socially integrated and morally competent robots. 

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3. Investigating Robot Moral Advice to Deter Cheating Behavior

   Kim, Boyoung; Wen, Ruchen; de Visser, Ewart J.; Zhu, Qin; Williams, Tom; Phillips, Elizabeth (January 2021, TSAR Workshop at ROMAN 2021)

   null (Ed.)

   We examined whether a robot that proactively offers moral advice promoting the norm of honesty can discourage people from cheating. Participants were presented with an opportunity to cheat in a die-rolling game. Prior to playing the game, participants received from either a NAO robot or a human, a piece of moral advice grounded in either deontological, virtue, or Confucian role ethics, or did not receive any advice. We found that moral advice grounded in Confucian role ethics could reduce cheating when the advice was delivered by a human. No advice was effective when a robot delivered moral advice. These findings highlight challenges in building robots that can possibly guide people to follow moral norms. 

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4. Role-based Morality, Ethical Pluralism, and Morally Capable Robots1

   Zhu, Qin; Williams, Tom; Wen, Ruchen (January 2021, Journal of contemporary Eastern Asia)

   Ess, Charles (Ed.)

   Dominant approaches to designing morally capable robots have been mainly based on rule-based ethical frameworks such as deontology and consequentialism. These approaches have encountered both philosophical and computational limitations. They often struggle to accommodate remarkably diverse, unstable, and complex contexts of human-robot interaction. Roboticists and philosophers have recently been exploring underrepresented ethical traditions such as virtuous, role-based, and relational ethical frameworks for designing morally capable robots. This paper employs the lens of ethical pluralism to examine the notion of role-based morality in the global context and discuss how such cross-cultural analysis of role ethics can inform the design of morally competent robots. In doing so, it first provides a concise introduction to ethical pluralism and how it has been employed as a method to interpret issues in computer and information ethics. Second, it reviews specific schools of thought in Western ethics that derive morality from role-based obligations. Third, it presents a more recent effort in Confucianism to reconceptualize Confucian ethics as a role-based ethic. This paper then compares the shared norms and irreducible differences between Western and Eastern approaches to role ethics. Finally, it discusses how such examination of pluralist views of role ethics across cultures can be conducive to the design of morally capable robots sensitive to diverse value systems in the global context. 

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5. I Need Your Advice... Human Perceptions of Robot Moral Advising Behaviors

   Starr, Nichole; Malle, Bertram; Williams, Tom (January 2021, TRAITS Workshop at HRI 2021)

   null (Ed.)

   Due to their unique persuasive power, language-capable robots must be able to both act in line with human moral norms and clearly and appropriately communicate those norms. These requirements are complicated by the possibility that humans may ascribe blame differently to humans and robots. In this work, we explore how robots should communicate in moral advising scenarios, in which the norms they are expected to follow (in a moral dilemma scenario) may be different from those their advisees are expected to follow. Our results suggest that, in fact, both humans and robots are judged more positively when they provide the advice that favors the common good over an individual’s life. These results raise critical new questions regarding people’s moral responses to robots and the design of autonomous moral agents. 

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