As robots become increasingly capable, the debate about the potential of rights for robots is attracting more and more attention. But not everyone is happy with this development, and argue that discussing robot rights is a dangerous distraction. Can the very act of debating robot rights harm marginalised human beings, for example? Does it dehumanise us? Or is it all just an attempted corporate power grab? Who better to answer these questions than David Gunkel, the author of, amongst many other works, the book “Robot Rights”? This episode of TDSlowdown is about challenging robot rights. Both because exploring these issues are challenging, but also because robot rights as a research agende is being challenged.

David's book on the subject: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/robot-rights