The AI problem can be likened to the Trolley Problem, if the trolley is flying at breakneck speeds
The writer is an Islamabad-based TV journalist and policy commentator. Email him at [email protected]
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the trolley problem as follows: The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics that presents a fictional scenario in which an onlooker has the choice to save 5 people in danger of being hit by a trolley by diverting it to kill just 1 person.
Encyclopedia Britannica adds: "(It is) A question first posed by the contemporary British philosopher Philippa Foot as a qualified defence of the doctrine of double effect and as an argument for her thesis that negative duties carry significantly more weight in moral decision-making than positive duties."
My modification: add two more complications to the problem. Speed or acceleration. And complexity. The trolley is flying at breakneck speed, and you need complex manoeuvres to change tracks.
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