AI-Powered Robots for Libraries: Exploratory Questions
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With recent developments in machine learning, a subfield of artificial intelligence (AI), it seems no longer extraordinary to think that we will be soon living in the world with many robots. While the term, ‘a robot’ conjures up the image of a humanoid machine, a robot can take many forms ranging from a drone, an autonomous vehicle, to a therapeutic baby seal-bot. But what counts as a robot, and what kind of robots should we expect to see at libraries?
AI has made it possible to make a robot intelligent and autonomous in performing tasks not only mechanical but also cognitive, such as driving, natural language processing, translation, and face recognition. The capability of AI-powered robots far exceeds that of other simpler and less sophisticated machines. How we will be interacting with these robots once they came to be in the world with us is an interesting question. Humans have a strong tendency to anthropomorphize creatures and objects they interact with, many of which are less complex than a robot. This suggests that we will be quite susceptible to projecting motives, emotions, and other human traits onto robots. For this reason, the adoption of robots raises unique concerns regarding their safety, morality, their impact on social relationships and norms, and their potential to be used as a means for manipulation and deception.
This paper explores these concerns related to the adoption of robots. It also discusses what kind of robots we may come to see at libraries in the near future, what kind of human-robot interactions may take place at libraries, and what type of human-robot relationship may facilitate or impede a library robot’s involvement in our information-seeking activities.
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For a brief introduction of AI and its potential applications to libraries, see Bohyun Kim, “Chapter 3. AI and Creating the First Multidisciplinary AI Lab”, ed. Jason Griffey, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Libraries, (American Library Association TechSource, 2019), pp.16-20, https://journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/6910; Bohyun Kim, “AI Lab at a Library? Why Artificial Intelligence Matters & What Libraries Can Do.” (Presentation at the American Library Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, June 25, 2018), https://www.slideshare.net/bohyunkim/ai-lab-at-a-library-why-artificial-intelligence-matters-what-libraries-can-do.
“PARO Therapeutic Robot,” accessed June 30, 2019, http://www.parorobots.com/.
George Bekey, “Current Trends in Robotics: Technology and Ethics,” in Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics, eds. Patrick Lin, Keith Abney, and George Bekey (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012), p.18.
It is to be noted that ‘acting upon the world’ can be interpreted broadly here. For example, if a machine does not physically move itself but generates facial expressions or interacts with users verbally using a language in a manner similar to how humans would interact with one another, such a machine is likely to count as a robot.
Regarding how the ‘human-in-the-loop’ and the ‘human-on-the-loop’ system would work differently in military AI weapons, see Noel Sharkey, “Chapter 7. Killing Made Easy: From Joysticks to Politics,” in Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics, eds. Patrick Lin, Keith Abney, and George A. Bekey, (Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England: MIT Press, 2014), pp.110-111.
See Philippa Foot, “The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect,” Oxford Review 5 (1967): 5–15; Judith Jarvis Thomson, “Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem,” The Monist 59, no. 2 (1976): 204-217.
For an extensive list of supervised and fully autonomous weapons systems, see Paul Scharre, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, 1 edition (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018), pp.45-47.
Sharkey, op. cit., p.116.
See Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen, Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010) for an excellent introduction to machine morality.
Kate Darling, “Chapter 12. Who’s Johnny?” Anthropomorphic Framing in Human–Robot Interaction, Integration, and Policy,” in Robot Ethics 2.0: From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence, eds. Patrick Lin, Keith Abney, and Ryan Jenkins, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp.173-192.
“NAO the Humanoid Robot,” SoftBank Robotics, accessed July 2, 2019, https://www.softbankrobotics.com/emea/en/nao.
Julie Carpenter, “The Quiet Professional: An Investigation of US Military Explosive Ordnance Disposal Personnel Interactions with Everyday Field Robots.” PhD dissertation, University of Washington, 2013, quoted in Darling, op. cit., p.174.
Woodrow Hartzog, “Unfair and Deceptive Robots,” Maryland Law Review 74: 785–829, 2015, quoted in Darling, op. cit., p.178.
For example, see Peter Holley, “Crime-Fighting Robot Taken off its Beat after Launching Alleged ‘War on the Homeless,’” LA Times, December 18, 2017, https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-crime-robot-20171218-story.html.
For some examples of the discussion regarding robots at libraries, see “Robots,” ALA - Center for the Future of Libraries, October 6, 2014, http://www.ala.org/tools/future/trends/robots and Bohyun Kim, “Near Us and Libraries, Robots Have Arrived,” ACRL TechConnect Blog, October 12, 2015, https://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/post/near-us-and-libraries-robots-have-arrived/.
Attila Nagy, “The Giant Robots That Serve the World’s Largest Library Archives,” Gizmodo, April 29, 2015, https://gizmodo.com/the-giant-robots-that-serve-the-worlds-largest-library-1700712936.
The Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore, “Automated Robot That Scans Library Shelves Using Laser Mapping and Radio Tags Can Ensure No Book Is Misplaced Again,” Phys.Org, June 2, 2016, https://phys.org/news/2016-06-automated-robot-scans-library-shelves.html.
“Robots Arrive at the Westport Library,” Westport Library, September 2014, http://westportlibrary.org/about/news/robots-arrive-westport-library.
“Finch Robots Land at CPL,” Chicago Public Library, May 12, 2014, https://www.chipublib.org/news/finch-robots-land-at-cpl/.
See Uyen Tran, “SDPL Labs: Arduino Aplenty,” Library as Incubator Project, April 27, 2015, http://www.libraryasincubatorproject.org/?p=16559 and “Library NExT,” City of San Diego, accessed June 30, 2019, https://www.sandiego.gov/librarynext.
Angad Singh, “‘Pepper’ the Emotional Robot, Sells out within a Minute,” CNN, June 23, 2015, https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/22/tech/pepper-robot-sold-out/.
Isaac Mahlangu, “Meet Libby - the New Robot Library Assistant at the University of Pretoria’s Hatfield Campus,” SowetanLIVE & Sunday World, June 4, 2019, https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-06-04-meet-libby-the-new-robot-library-assistant-at-the-university-of-pretorias-hatfield-campus/.
Twila Camp and Tim Smith, “Alexa, What Does Library AI Look Like in the Future?,” (presentation, American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, Denver, CO, February 11, 2018), https://www.eventscribe.com/2018/ALA-Midwinter/fsPopup.asp?Mode=presInfo&PresentationID=348820.
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