I Need Your Advice... Human Perceptions of Robot Moral Advising Behaviors

TL;DR

This study investigates how humans perceive robot moral advising behaviors, emphasizing the importance of communication clarity and moral norm alignment in robot-human interactions, especially in moral dilemmas.

Contribution

It explores human perceptions of robot moral advising, highlighting preferences for advice favoring the common good and addressing moral norm communication challenges.

Findings

Humans judge robots more positively when advice favors the common good.

Both humans and robots are perceived more favorably when moral advice aligns with societal norms.

The study raises questions about moral responsibility attribution to robots.

Abstract

Due to their unique persuasive power, language-capable robots must be able to both act in line with human moral norms and clearly and appropriately communicate those norms. These requirements are complicated by the possibility that humans may ascribe blame differently to humans and robots. In this work, we explore how robots should communicate in moral advising scenarios, in which the norms they are expected to follow (in a moral dilemma scenario) may be different from those their advisees are expected to follow. Our results suggest that, in fact, both humans and robots are judged more positively when they provide the advice that favors the common good over an individual's life. These results raise critical new questions regarding people's moral responses to robots and the design of autonomous moral agents.