Stephen Hawking once claimed that AI could be the greatest threat to humanity. The tech world’s most prominent visionaries have voiced concerns around the proliferation of robots in all areas of our lives, yet we continue to hurtle towards a brave new mechanical world. Is it possible that in the future we could be looking at a self-aware artificial intelligence?

If robots become just as sentient as humans, will they be afforded the same rights? Should there be a set of immutable ethical laws around robots and AI before it’s too late and if so, whose job would it be to determine and enforce them?

Join UNSW robots and AI expert Professor Toby Walsh, researcher and digital strategist Kate Devlin, philosopher Matthew Beard and legal ethicist Justine Rogers to tackle these moral dilemmas and determine how these rapidly emerging technologies will impact our tomorrow.

I have friends working in tech companies who tell me that they would welcome more regulation, because at the moment it’s a race to the bottom and they don’t want to go there.

Toby Walsh

Don’t believe the people in tech who say, ethics is about self regulation so we don’t need laws.

Matt Beard

What’s interesting about the sex robot field, is that it’s kind of a microcosm of the tech industry in general. It’s just a bunch of white guys making products where the default user is a white guy

Kate Devlin

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Photo credit Prudence Upton.

This talk is part of the UNSW Grand Challenge on Living with 21st Century Technology.