Forget robot rights, experts say, use them for public safety

Scientists have criticised a government report which advocated a debate on granting rights to super-intelligent robots in the future as "a distraction." They say the public should instead be consulted over the use of robots by the military and police, as carers for the elderly and as sex toys.

The robotics experts were commenting on a report published by the Office of Science and Innovation's Horizon Scanning Centre in December. The authors of Robo-rights: Utopian dream or rise of the machines? wrote: "If artificial intelligence is achieved and widely deployed (or if they can reproduce and improve themselves) calls may be made for human rights to be extended to robots."

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