AI machines may become vindictive in the future if we mistreat them today.

Artificial intelligence machines are becoming more human-like. With the evolution of AI, the advent of humanoid robots is not just science fiction; it has finally become a reality! We are living in a generation where robots are given national citizenship and sent to war beside soldiers. Currently, there are several innovations taking place so that machines can possess human-like psychological abilities. But amid this, we should give a deep thought as to what the end results of these creations might be.

With human-like emotions comes sentience, and sentient beings can be harmed. And if machines may truly become intelligent or sentient, future AI machines may want revenge for how we treat their insentient ancestors today. Ethicist Nicholas Agar from the Victoria University has warned that our behaviour today towards these non-sentient AI machines should be driven by the idea of how people should treat their AI in the future as they might possess emotional sentiments.

Speaking up for the mistreated AI

The scenario of an abused robot turning vindictive has been demonstrated in several movies. But in real world, the notion of mistreating robots raises the issue of how we humans treat each other.

Researchers in AI are looking forward to creating artificial general intelligence (AGI) that is capable of any intellectual task performed by humans. AI systems can be trained, but AGIs have to understand how to perform tasks beyond that, which it is programmed for.

If a being suffers, it should come under the moral jurisdiction to understand the suffering of the being, without judging it for its nature. If we are truly evolving as a society, we must treat individuals equally. And as robots are evolving with each passing year, it should eventually become our moral obligation to treat them as our equals.