Rise of the Moral Machines
20 May 2021
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Prof. Nigel Crook
Associate Dean: Research and Knowledge Exchange Founder and Co-Director of the Institute for Ethical Artificial
Can machines be programmed to know the difference between right and wrong? Can they be equipped with a ’moral compass’ to guide their behaviour? More specifically, can machines be moral agents? In this talk I will attempt to address these as I explore the work that is being done in the emerging field of ‘moral machines’.
Prof. Nigel Crook
My research interests include Ethical Artificial Intelligence, autonomous moral machiens, biologically inspired machine learning, embodied conversational agents and social robotics. In my most recent research I have been exploring how it might be possible to equip robots with a degree of moral competence. This would enable robots to recognise the moral consequences of their actions and be able to predict what kinds of behaviours are acceptable in a given situation. I am also working on other aspects of ethical AI, including developing systems that can explain the decision of trained machine learning models and automatic personality typing. I am founder of the Ethical AI institute at Oxford Brookes University (formal launch summer 2019). My work on robotics has attracted some media attention, including 16 appearances on regional, national and international television channels.
As ADRKE I lead and manage the implementation of the University Research and Knowledge Exchange strategy throughout the Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment. I develop and implement research and knowledge exchange initiatives, policies and systems which are designed to increase research capacity, the percentage of research judged externally as ‘world leading’, the interactions of research and knowledge exchange activities, and the exploitation and dissemination of our research for the benefits for our communities.As ADRKE I lead and manage the implementation of the University Research and Knowledge Exchange strategy throughout the Faculty of Technology, Design and Environment. I develop and implement research and knowledge exchange initiatives, policies and systems which are designed to increase research capacity, the percentage of research judged externally as ‘world leading’, the interactions of research and knowledge exchange activities, and the exploitation and dissemination of our research for the benefits for our communities.