The New Breed

March 1, 2021
"Just like animals, robots don't need to be a one-to-one replacement for our jobs or relationships," writes Darling, whose work at MIT's Media Lab focuses on robot ethics. "Instead, robots can enable us to work and love in new ways." As clearheaded as that approach sounds, it's really complicated. Thus, even as humans partner with animals who have, for millennia, done our heavy lifting, transported us, fed us, clothed us, even befriended us, we're only now addressing the misunderstanding we brought into that partnership--for example, the specious hierarchy of the animal world that we have constructed, and the often-tragic consequences of that. So it will be in our relationship with robots, says Darling, who lays out in detail the vexing issues--robot rights, robot accountability, our fears of a robot takeover, our deep-seated anthropomorphism that leads to surprising attachments to these machines--more than resolving them. But it's a thoughtful, constructive starting point.

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March 12, 2021

Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics create speculation about what our future relationships with artificial intelligence and robots will be like. We most often compare robots to humans, but Darling (MIT Media Lab) suggests that a more apt, less restrictive analogy would be to compare them to animals, who experience the world differently from humans (like robots do). There are differences: animals will never learn to vacuum or build cars, but they also can learn to manage the unexpected more easily than a machine; regardless, we humans tend to anthropomorphize both animals and robots. Darling's book is divided into three sections. The first discusses robots as "a supplement to our own abilities," improving workplace safety for humans by doing jobs that are dirty, dull and/or dangerous, and collaborating with humans, as animals have for millennia. The second section covers robots and animals as companions; the third examines animal and robot rights. Darling includes a thorough discussion of the law and ethics surrounding robotics and AI. Images of robots, from pop culture and scientific history, are featured throughout. VERDICT Thought-provoking popular science that will be of interest to anyone curious about the past, present, or future of robot--human interaction.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

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March 15, 2021
Asimov's rules of robots require that they shall not harm humans. But what obligations do humans have toward robots in turn? MIT Media Lab researcher Darling believes that the long-awaited robotics revolution is just around the corner, with people wondering not whether but when they'll be replaced by robots "against the backdrop of broader economic and social anxiety." Some worry is well placed, but much is not, for robots are likeliest to be "delegated jobs that qualify as one of the three Ds: tasks that are dirty, dull, or dangerous for humans." Indeed, Darling notes, Elon Musk once built an autonomous assembly line for his Tesla electric car only to discover that robots were not yet smart enough to figure out and deal with unexpected glitches in the manufacturing process; a repentant Musk "tweeted that human workers were underrated." Robots are best at single specialized tasks and repetitive processes--for now. Separate questions arise when robots become companions and pets. In that vein, Darling engagingly examines robots and their uses in relation to our interactions with animals--and not just pets, but also working animals such as donkeys and horses, bred over years to help with specific tasks that are difficult for humans to accomplish alone. The author notes that in the instance of both robots and animals, "we have an inherent tendency to anthropomorphize--to project our own behaviors, experiences, and emotions onto other entities." Animals please us in part because we ascribe our best qualities to them, and in the same way, robots "engage us because we're drawn to the recognizable human cues in their behavior." A minor shortcoming of this book is Darling's cursory attention to the problem of abuse, for if animals suffer so much hardship at human hands, so might those machines. Still, she provides a useful addition to a body of literature that is growing at a rapid pace. A provocative work of ethics that may prove altogether timely given the state of the technology.

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May 3, 2021
Darling, a researcher at MIT’s media lab, debuts with an upbeat if inconsistent tract on humans’ relationship with artificial intelligence. Challenging the notion that robots will soon replace humans in the workforce and could “outpace human intelligence and take control of the world,” Darling insists that robots shouldn’t be seen as replacements for humans, and calls attention to their ability to do “dirty, dull and dangerous” work, such as mining and certain military operations. Drawing on humans’ relationships with animals, she ponders the ethical and legal implications of advancing technology, and how humans should approach AI: she addresses why people get emotional about robots (such as R2-D2), linking it to a human tendency to anthropomorphize animals and pets, and considers if aggression toward robots marks the same lack of empathy as animal abuse. She also insists that AI creators and users be held responsible for machines that “misbehave,” and cautions against a future in which companies that claim “the robot did it” are let off the hook. While entertaining, Darling wanders out on tangents (her treatment of the cat lady trope, for example) that lack cohesion. Readers curious about AI’s ethical conundrums, though, will find this a breezy enough primer.