Introduction: The Pursuit for Moral Machines

This chapter provides the backdrop to the book. With an introduction to Asimov’s infamous laws of robotics, it provides a comprehensive dissection of the laws to demonstrate why they might be problematic in practical terms if we really want to create robots with morals. It then goes on to introduce the field of Machine Ethics, before tracing its way through a summary of the various chapters involved in the book. It ends by stating the key thesis behind the book—that if we want to create machines with morals, we need to raise robots to be good.