Self-Driving Vehicles Will Soon Decide Who Lives and Who Dies
Exploring the ethical debates that will shape the future of machine learning
It can be said that we’re always living in the future. Humans have an interesting way of ignoring present-day as our future from five minutes or five hundred years prior.
Regardless of how it is spelled out, this future, the one where artificial intelligence making decisions impacting human lives—is here.
It seems like only yesterday when Tesla was rolling out its first Model S and we were all excited, anxious and doubtful at once. What would this mean for the future of the automobile? Shortly afterward the autopilot updates were uploaded to the fleet. An entirely new series of questions came to mind.
How much control are we willing to give up? How safe are self-driving vehicles? How will they handle unexpected circumstances?
Before we unpack that, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. More specifically, a look back at predictions from science fiction. The creative minds behind many books and films have outlined some scenarios for us. From the optimistic utopias to the sinister dystopian futures, intriguing images of advanced AI exist everywhere.
