The Wrong Take on ‘Robot Rights’?

Imagine that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, robots possess the kind of broad-ranging artificial intelligence that turns up in sci-fi novels and futurist films. Would those machines have any of the rights normally ascribed to humans?

Britain's Department of Trade and Industry recently endeavored to find out. In a report titled "Robo-Rights," the government agency suggested that robots could one day make compelling cases for suffrage and social security:

If granted full rights, states will be obligated to provide full social benefits to them including income support, housing, and possibly robo-health care to fix the machines over time.

But robotics researchers say that kind of speculation is best left to the Isaac Asimovs and the Arthur C. Clarkes of the world. The report, they argue, was shoddily researched: It made just one reference to work by an active expert in the field. And even if the department had done a more thorough job, the researchers say, its basic premise would still be a silly distraction from more important issues in robotics.

The report was "very shallow, superficial, and poorly informed," said Owen Holland, a professor of computer science at the University of Essex, to The Times of London. "I know of no one within the serious robotics community who would use that phrase, 'robot rights.'" –Brock Read