The HBS hosts discuss how robots and intelligent machines are upending our social, moral, legal, and philosophical categories.

For this last episode of Season 2, the HBS hosts interview Dr. David Gunkel (author of Robot Rights and How To Survive A Robot Invasion) about his work on emergent technologies, intelligent machines, and robots. Following the recent announcement by Elson Musk that Tesla is developing a humanoid robot for home use, we ask: what is the real difference between a robot and a toaster?

Do robots and intelligent machines rise to the level of “persons”? Should we accord them moral consideration or legal rights? Or are those questions just the consequence of our over-anthropomorphizing robots and intelligent machines?

Check out the following links to thinkers/ideas/events referenced in this episode:

• David Gunkel, Robot Rights (MIT Press, 2018)
• David Gunkel, How To Survive A Robot Invasion: Rights, Responsibilities, and AI (Routledge, 2020)
• Aarian Marshall, “Tesla Promised a Robot. Was it Just a Recruiting Pitch?” (Wired, 2021)
• Kif Leswing, “Elon Musk says Tesla will build a humanoid robot prototype by next year” (CNBC, 2021)
• Tim Hornyak, “Insanely humanlike androids have entered the workplace and soon may take your job.” (CNBC, 2019)
• “5 humanoid robots that are worth getting to know” (Rewired, 2021)
• “In competition with a humanoid robot, humans delay their decisions when the robot looks at them” (Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 2021)
• Leigh M. Johnson, “Why You Should Care that Artifical Intelligence Can Lie” (Part 1) (Part 2)
• Leigh M. Johnson, “The Uncanny Valley and Sonzai-Kan” (2011)
• Leigh M. Johnson, “Humanity: How To Tell Your Students They’re the End of It” (2018)