AI assisted ethics

The question of which values should be introduced into the guidance systems of driverless cars has implications well beyond the ethical directions to be granted to these new vehicles. Namely, such guidance is needed for a great variety of robots, machines, and instruments (instruments, from here on) that are already equipped with artificial intelligence (AI)--and many more in the near future (The Economist 2015). These instruments are often referred to as "smart." As Ed Lazowska of the University of Washington put it, "During the next decade we're going to see smarts put into everything. According to Francesca Rossi, a computer scientist at the University of Padova, "Until now, the emphasis has been on making machines faster and more precise--better able to reach a specific goal set by humans.