When to Trust a Liar

Description

Our folk understanding of “deception” combines two features: (i) actions aimed to induce false belief; and (ii) malicious intent. Yet these come apart in practice. (ii) is present without (i) in the case of “paltering,” or the utterance of truths with the intent to mislead; (i) is present without (ii) in the case of “white lies” that serve a pro-social function. I argue that, in order to engage socially with humans, robots must be capable of regularly producing (i). In fact, there are positive ethical reasons for wanting robots to have the capacity to lie in complex social interactions, as they may need to do so to satisfy Asimov’s Laws. The real requirement for ensuring trustworthy robots is to solve the problem of preventing malicious intent. This problem is much more pressing, as it already confronts us today, for instance in military drones.

Period	31 Oct 2019
Event title	Human Robot Interaction between Trust and Deception
Event type	Conference
Location	Pisa, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International