Engineers at Georgia Tech have discovered an amusing fact in their latest robot experiment. It turns out the people tend to trust a robot more than a human. Specifically, the experiment shows that people would trust a robot to lead them out of a burning building, even if they had no prior knowledge of the robot malfunctioning. Seeing as Google is about to release a self-driving car, this issue of trust must be great news for them.
ROBOTS DECEPTIVE TRUST ALREADY FOOLING HUMANS
This instance at Georgia Tech is just one of many experiments conducted in regards to human-robot relationships. The results certainly raise some critical questions about trust. Why do we trust these machines over our peers? Just how much should we bestow upon them? For now, those answers remain a debate, but in a testing environment, humans seem to trust the robot regardless of whether it functions properly.
IF GOOGLE CARS MALFUNCTION, WILL PEOPLE LISTEN?
Among these experiments, one stands out as concerning. A group of college students participated in a study where a robot was to lead them around a building. Unbeknownst to them, a fire drill was to be simulated. Upon hearing the alarm, the robot kicked into emergency mode and direct d the students to what they thought was the exit. Not one student second guessed the robots ability to lead the way. Unfortunately, the robot’s opinion was wrong and they were directed towards their fictional demise. Imagine a Google car telling you to take a left and next thing you know, you’re in the Hudson River. The amount of trust we’re putting in these robots already is a topic of concern.
RESULTS BAFFLE SCIENTISTS, ROBOTS PREPARE FOR TAKEOVER
The results of these said tests baffled researchers. Maybe the students didn’t think they were in any real danger. Maybe the younger generation was raised on technology like Google that they automatically trust it to begin with. Despite the overwhelming success of the Google car, we should all learn to trust machines less. Sci-Fi plot lines aside, human-machine trust is a real dilemma. For example, Google is helping create robots for the military. Human’s can’t afford to blindly trust these robots in combat situations. We must understand that we are still superior, and they are just tools that humans have made.
