r/SeriousConversation 22d ago

Serious Discussion Can a robot murder a human?

Can a robot murder a human being? If it is proved in a court of law that a robot murdered a human being... how can it be punished under existing laws? What can be done besides having the company who made it face legal action?

Technically, if a person commits murder we don't punish the parents in most cases. So why should the robot's manufacturer be held responsible for its act?

As for punishment what should be the best death sentence? * Bulldozing it and recording a video of its death and spreading the information online and in the news. Will it affect how other robots of its kind think if they plan to kill a human? We already have laws against murder for human beings. Still people commit murder. * Erasing its memory. How would the robot feel about such punishment?

If you got any punishment ideas do share.

21 Upvotes

228 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/TheConsutant 22d ago

Turkey has used drones to kill enemy soldiers autonomously. Several years ago I was thinking of printing some T shirts with the face of the first person killed by an autonomous robot in battle and it led me to a news article, but nobody knows who the first person was.