This article investigates public opinion about smart robots, with special focus on the ethical dimension. In so doing, the study reviews relevant literature and analyzes data from the comments sections of four publically available online news articles on smart robots. Findings from the content analysis of investigated comments suggest that public opinion about smart robots remains fairly negative, and that public discussion is focused on potentially negative social and economic impacts of smart robots on society, as well as various liability issues. In particular, many comments were what can only be called “apocalyptical”, suggesting that the rise of smart robots is a threat to the very existence of human beings, and that the replacement of human labour by smart robots will lead to deepening the socio-economic gap, and concentrating power and wealth in the hands of even fewer people. Further, public discussion seems to pay little attention to the debate on whether robots should have “rights”, or on the increasing environmental effects of the growth in robotics. This study contributes to the extant literature on “roboethics”, by suggesting a dendrogram approach to illustrate themes based on a qualitative content analysis. It suggests that smart robot manufacturers should ensure better transparency and inclusion in their robotics design processes to foster public adoption of robots.

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智能机器人舆论的伦理维度

本文调查有关智能机器人的舆论，特别关注道德维度。在此过程中，该研究回顾了相关文献，并分析了有关智能机器人的四篇公开在线新闻文章的评论部分的数据。对被调查评论的内容分析结果表明，公众对智能机器人的看法仍然相当消极，公众讨论的重点是智能机器人对社会的潜在负面社会和经济影响，以及各种责任问题。尤其是，很多评论只能说是“末日论”，认为智能机器人的兴起是对人类生存的威胁，智能机器人对人类劳动力的替代将导致社会的深化。经济差距，并将权力和财富集中在更少的人手中。此外，公众的讨论似乎很少关注机器人是否应该拥有“权利”，或者机器人技术的发展对环境的影响越来越大。本研究通过提出一种基于定性内容分析来说明主题的树状图方法，为现存的关于“机器人伦理学”的文献做出了贡献。它建议智能机器人制造商应确保其机器人设计过程具有更高的透明度和包容性，以促进公众对机器人的采用。通过提出一种基于定性内容分析的树状图方法来说明主题。它建议智能机器人制造商应确保其机器人设计过程具有更高的透明度和包容性，以促进公众对机器人的采用。通过提出一种基于定性内容分析的树状图方法来说明主题。它建议智能机器人制造商应确保其机器人设计过程具有更高的透明度和包容性，以促进公众对机器人的采用。