Algorithmic disgorgement might sound like a phrase from a science-fiction horror film. In fact, it's a new tool for regulators to address the consequences of autonomous systems, ordering companies to remove or destroy algorithms and models in their products based on data obtained unfairly or deceptively. This is one of topics and papers to be presented and discussed at We Robot, an annual conference where scholars and technologists discuss legal and policy questions relating to robots and artificial intelligence. We Robot is taking place next week, from Sept. 14-16, at the University of Washington in Seattle, with a virtual option, as well. It's also an example of how the legal and regulatory landscape for robots, AI, and autonomous systems have changed in the decade since the conference was first held at the University of Miami in 2012. "We've come very far," said Ryan Calo, one of the organizers of the conference, a University of Washington law professor who specializes in areas including privacy, artificial intelligence and robots.

A few months ago, in January 2018, the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee approved a report that outlines a possible legal framework to regulate the interactions between a) humans, and b) robots and Artificial Intelligence systems. The report is quite revolutionary. It proposes, e.g., giving certain types of robots and AI systems personhood, as "electronic persons": These electronic persons would have rights and obligations, and the report suggests that they should obey Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics. The report also advises that the manufacturers of robots and AI systems should build in a'kill switch' to be able to deactivate them. Another recommendation is that a European Agency for Robotics and AI be established that would be capable of responding to new opportunities and challenges arising from technological advancements in robotics. The EU is not alone in its desire to regulate AI: similar (though less far reaching) reports were published in Japan and in the UK.

A few months ago, in January 2018, the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee approved a report that outlines a possible legal framework to regulate the interactions between a) humans, and b) robots and Artificial Intelligence systems. The report is quite revolutionary. It proposes, e.g., giving certain types of robots and AI systems personhood, as "electronic persons": These electronic persons would have rights and obligations, and the report suggests that they should obey Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics. The report also advises that the manufacturers of robots and AI systems should build in a'kill switch' to be able to deactivate them. Another recommendation is that a European Agency for Robotics and AI be established that would be capable of responding to new opportunities and challenges arising from technological advancements in robotics. The EU is not alone in its desire to regulate AI: similar (though less far reaching) reports were published in Japan and in the UK.

THE car's computer saw Elaine Herzberg pushing her bicycle across the highway a full six seconds before it struck her. Travelling at just under 70 kilometres per hour, it had more than enough time to stop or swerve. But it did neither, hitting her head on. Herzberg died in hospital, the first pedestrian to be killed by an autonomous vehicle. A preliminary investigation by the US National Transport Safety Board into the collision, which happened in Tempe, Arizona, in March, found that the emergency braking procedure of the Uber-operated car was designed to be disabled when driving autonomously to ensure a smoother ride.

How are you supposed to behave if you're a robot? According to the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, there are three simple rules: don't let human beings come to harm, obey orders and protect yourself – in that order of priority. Asimov first set out these three laws of robotics in his 1942 short story Runaround, but since then they've become staples of the genre, violated by artificial intelligence in everything from Doctor Who to Alien. As much as they continue to dominate the conversation, however, Asimov's laws are rapidly becoming out-of-date. After all, we live in a world fast filling with actual robots: driving our cars, performing our medical procedures, influencing our elections and threatening to take our jobs.

DETROIT United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said on Thursday the union is contacting workers at Silicon Valley electric car maker Tesla Inc, and plans to boost efforts to convince U.S. consumers not to buy vehicles built in other countries, including those sold by the Detroit automakers.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European lawmakers called on Thursday for EU-wide legislation to regulate the rise of robots, including an ethical framework for their development and deployment and the establishment of liability for the actions of robots including self-driving cars.

When the robot found the shipwreck, the humans controlling it must have been elated. The SS Central America, a paddle wheel steamboat, had gone down in a hurricane in 1857, loaded with gold from the California Gold Rush. For more than a century treasure seekers searched in vain. But in 1988, a robotic submersible operated by an outfit called the Columbus-America Discovery Group finally found the wreck roughly 200 miles off the Georgia coast. Lawsuits soon challenged Columbus-America's claim to the gold.