Think back to psychology class where you had to consider the trolley problem. There’s a lever in front of you, and you can pull it to save 5 people, but doing so would willingly take another individual’s life. It’s a moral dilemma that has no right or wrong answer. But can robots manipulate our minds to make us feel that same dilemma?
At the University of Duisburg-Essen, a study was conducted with 89 volunteer participants. Each one was asked to have an interactive conversation with a robot run on artificial intelligence. The robot, named Nao, was meant to humanize himself as he talked to people. As the 89 participants cycled through conversations, Nao begged 43 of them not to “turn him off.” The robot cited “its fears of the darkness” in order to convince people to feel guilty or sorry for what was essentially a glorified piece of metal.
30% of participants did not shut him off for that reason. Nao successfully made them feel like the Robot was a human, and manipulated their brains to not press the kill switch on his circuit board. The study cited the possibility for robots to become more persuasive and manipulative as technology evolves, which brings the fears of the future to our front door.
Robot-Human interactions have always been a fascinating thing to study, but if you think back to the trolley problem, you are essentially taking “life” away from a robot that has made a connection with you, almost like willfully pulling the lever and sacrificing a human life that you would have lingering over your conscience.
Things get weird when science and psychology mix…
