[Avodah] driverless cars in Halacha?

[Rich, Joel]

[Micha:]
> On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 09:27:11PM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
>: I've heard Ravi Asher Weiss make the point concerning the programmers
>: prioritizing driverless cars' decisions from the point of the driver...

> Artificial Intelligence (AI) as the idiom is currently used, generally
> refers to Neural Nets (NN). One doesn't program a NN, one trains it...
> Notice you don't give a NN rules.

True, I used program in a colloquial sense but still the triner (perhaps
subconsciously ) gives over his priorities so one could still "train"
from the drivers point of view when saying if a result is "right"

> Worse, there is no way to pick out of NN to figure out after the fact what
> it did.

Amen-there's a lot of work being done on how to get these systems to
explain their results because no one will trust them otherwise

> So, what you're saying is that whomever is training the neural net will
> treat risk to the driver as more wrong than other people's death or injury.

Yup

> If it requires a LOT of data, it's going to be based on movies of people
> with good driving records actually driving, and not articulated moral
> standards at all.

That's really a question the designers will have to thinkabout (e.g. what
is a good driver?

>:                    In addition I'm not sure whether Halacha or secular
>: law will view the programmer as an agent of society rather than as an
>: agent of the eventual buyer. Thoughts?

> As R Aqiva said about not sharing your canteen in the desert -- chayekha
> qodmin. Nothing about shelichus. And unless the programmer is one of
> the people crossing the street in front of the car, I don't see applicability.

Think about the 3rd party with water and no need for it

> Rather, I would frame it  in terms of purchasing decision: It is appropriate
> for a buyer to choose a car that places more value on his own life.

And then you and not the programmer are liable?

> And since halakhah is more about following the rules and leaving the
> conseqences to Hashem, not one that chooses swerving out of a lane with
> 2 people in it in order to hit only one. Halakhah would seem to tell
> you not to go near the switch in a Trolley Car Problem situation. And
> therefore that's what you should choose to buy.

Not sure- maybe you go with the CI saying it could be considered an act
of hatzalah

KT
Joel