Ethical Implications of Chatbots for Intellectual Property Rights

The purpose of the report is to analyze a given situation in basis of the ethical theories and ACS code of ethics. Chatbots find its use in the government agencies and different business organization as it is capable of performing humanlike actions. However, when the chatbots become indistinguishable from human, certain ethical issues arises. The report will be discussing the issues related to chatbots and intellectual property rights. The reports recommends the ethical use of chatbots without deceiving the user that is communicating with a chatbot.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional Development
Name of the Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The purpose of the report is to analyze a given situation in basis of the ethical theories and ACS
code of ethics. Chatbots find its use in the government agencies and different business
organization as it is capable of performing humanlike actions. However, when the chatbots
become indistinguishable from human, certain ethical issues arises. The report will be discussing
the issues related to chatbots and intellectual property rights. The reports recommends the ethical
use of chatbots without deceiving the user that is communicating with a chatbot.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................3
2. Ethical Analysis of Companion Robots...........................................................................3
2.1. Utilitarianism Theory................................................................................................4
2.2. Deontology Theory...................................................................................................5
2.3. Social Contract Theory.............................................................................................6
2.4. Character Based Theory...........................................................................................8
2.5. ACS Code of Ethics..................................................................................................8
3. Proposed Solution............................................................................................................9
4. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................9
References..........................................................................................................................11

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Chosen ethical Question: What are the potential implications of chatbot for intellectual property
rights?
1. Introduction
Chatbots or conversational agents can be described as software applications that are
capable of mimicking human speech. The chatbots are quite capable of stimulating a
conversation with a real person which gives rise to the ethical dilemma. One of the major issues
associated with the use of chatbots and artificial intelligence is that it can be deceptive. The
increasing sophistication of the technology of AI, is gradually making humans and bots
indistinguishable. The report will be focusing on the ethical dilemma related to chatbots. The
report will be discussing the potential implications of chatbot related to intellectual property
rights (Chatbot Ethics, 2019). The ethical issue that arises with the increasing use of chat bots is
that artificial intelligence will possibly disrupt the intellectual property rights (Alaieri & Vellino,
2016). The report will be analyzing the case study on basis of the ethical theories, which are
utilitarianism theory, deontology theory, social contract theory, character based theory and ACS
code of ethics. The ethical dilemma related to chatbots and intellectual property rights are
discussed in the paragraphs below.
2. Ethical Analysis of Companion Robots
Companion robots is gradually becoming a support factor that can considerably reduce
human loads. The companion robots are capable of managing the household chores, teaching the
children and supporting the elderly people (McKee & Porter, 2017). This type of robots are
already a support factor in Japan and the use of this type of robots are expected to increase.
However, there rise a major ethical dilemma associated with the use of chatbots and companion

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robots. Since this type of robots are capable of performing human like works, the robots
sometimes becomes undistinguishable from a human (Cummings & Kunzelman, 2015). This
gives rise to a major ethical dilemma. The identified ethical issue is evaluated on basis of
utilitarianism theory, deontology theory, social contract theory, contract based theory and ACS
code of ethics, in the following sections
2.1. Utilitarianism Theory
Utilitarianism Theory of ethics indicates that right and wrong is solely based on the
outcomes or the consequence of a situation and not on action. Utilitarianism is one of the most
influential moral theories that indicates that right or wrong of a situation is largely depends on
the effects of the situation.
There have been an increasing use of chatbots and companion robots particularly because
of the advantages and the benefits it offers. The use of chatbot therefore may not be unethical on
basis of Utilitarianism Theory (Headleand, 2016). The artificial intelligence technology is largely
influenced by Patent Act and copyright activity as artificial intelligence can possibly disrupt the
legal framework for intellectual property rights. However, since the use of AI and companion
robots provides a positive solution to the client, the use of chatbots is not unethical.
The situation is not unethical only if the consequence is right. However, there are certain
potential implications associated with the use of chatbots and intellectual property rights. The
implications is mainly associated with the software developers and ownership of the AI
generated content (Sheehan, 2018). If the chatbots become completely indistinguishable from
human, the consequences may not be good.

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Utilitarianism theory of ethics is one of the most influential moral theories of ethic. The
situation of chatbots taking the place of human in near future or chatbots becoming
indistinguishable from human will morally be incorrect if its consequences are wrong. It is quite
difficult to comment on consequences of the increasing use of chatbots, however, if chatsbots
becomes indistinguishable from human and if that affects humankind negatively, the situation
will be ethically wrong from the perspective of Utilitarianism theory as well. Furthermore, the
increasing issues and implications of chatbot for the intellectual property rights might prove to be
a significant problem for the software developer and for the government as well.
The business opportunities provided by the use of chatbots can significantly enhance the
business efficiencies and effectiveness of chatbots. The use of chatbots have the capability of
improving the quality of life (Lin, Abney & Bekey, 2014). Yet, the use of this technology can
significantly bring in a number of social and legal issues. The situation is further evaluated on
basis of the deontology theory in the following section.
2.2. Deontology Theory
Deontological ethics can be described as a normative theory of ethics that examines the
morality of a situation on the action on which it is based. According to this theory, a situation
would be morally incorrect if its action is wrong (Peters, 2015). The deontological theory of
ethics is based on fundamental normative principles. The deontology ethics indicates that moral
obligation might arise from both internal and external source.
The situation of increasing use of chatbots to improve the quality of life, and the issues it
may pose on the intellectual property rights are needed to be analyzed on basis of deontology
theory of ethics (Broad, 2014). Deontology theory is mainly based on certain predefined sets of

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rules and policies and a situation would be ethical on basis on deontology theory only if the
situation follows those predefined rules.
The action of making use of companion robots or chatbots to reduce human labor is not
wrong (Albert, Reynolds & Turan, 2015). Companion robots are mainly designed to with an aim
of increasing the service effectiveness. Therefore, the action of making use of companion robots
is not wrong. The consequences of making use of chatbots that becomes completely
indistinguishable with human can be wrong.
The development of companion robots provide an excellent business opportunity to the
government and therefore, the action of developing chatbots may not be ethically incorrect. The
business opportunities associated with development of chatbots increases its adoption in
business. The use of chatbots have enabled the business organization to automate customer
support and services.
Chatbots are proved to be beneficial in almost all business sectors. The use of chatbots
are beneficial to government agencies as well. Government agencies make use of chatbots in
order to ensure that the citizens’ get quick access to public data. However, the increasing use of
chatbots in government agencies has the capability of transforming the communication process
between citizens and governments (Winkler & Duminy, 2016). Chatbots are implemented in
government agencies with an aim of addressing various issues of the citizens. Government
agencies implement chatbots to accelerate the communication process between citizen and
government and therefore, the actions are not ethically wrong. The situation is further analyzed
on basis of a social contract theory in the following section.
2.3. Social Contract Theory

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According to the social contract theory of ethics, people live together in the society in
accordance to an agreement that is associated with the establishment of the moral and political
rules and behavior (McDermid, 2015). According to this theory of ethics, a situation would be
ethical only if it is considered ethical by a larger section of the society.
The current situation of making use of chatbots is needed to be evaluated from the
perspective of social contract theory in order to examine whether it is ethical or not. Although
the development and the use of chatbots aim in improving the quality of life, there are certain
issues associated with the use of same that needs to be evaluated. The increasing use of chatbots
poses a legitimate question on the intellectual property rights (alZahir & Kombo, 2014).
Furthermore, the increasing sophistication of the chatbots and the companion robots make it
difficult to distinguish the same from human (Paquette, Sommerfeldt & Kent, 2015). This give
rise to a major ethical issue of intellectual property rights and invasion of privacy. A person
communicating with a chatbot may not have an idea that the person whom he/she is
communicating with is not a human. The increasing sophistication with the technology of
chatbot makes it deceptive and this is unethical on the perspective of social contract theory.
Another ethical issue associated with the use of chatbot is that the increasing use and
adoption of chatbots can significantly result in job loss. If a companion robot can perform the job
of a human, there will be not need of appointing a human for the purpose as use of chatbots can
be a cost effective approach (Ferrara et al., 2016). This give rise to an ethical dilemma on basis
of social contract theory. Therefore, on analyzing the current situation on basis of the social
contract theory, it is found out that the use of chatbots that are undistinguishable from human is
unethical and this issue is needed to be address. A chatbot should not be programmed to deceive

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users by acting like human as it would be unethical from the perspective of the society. The
following section of the report examines the ethical issue on basis of the character based theory.
2.4. Character Based Theory
The character based theory of ethics or virtue ethics is one of the three major approaches
of normative ethics. This theory of ethics is mainly person based rather than action based and
therefore the moral character of a person defines the morality of a situation.
On analyzing the situation on basis of character based ethics, the situation of deceiving
human by chatbots is found to be unethical. Since the chatbots are hiding their true identity from
humans, the situation is completely unethical. Furthermore, the use of chatbots fives rise to
issues related to intellectual property rights and therefore, the situation becomes unethical
(Thieltges et al., 2016). The fact that chatbots can be deceptive increases the social dilemma as a
human might want to know who they are talking to (Veruggio, Operto & Bekey, 2016). They are
initiating a conversation thinking they are human, which in reality may not be the truth. The
software developers and many business associations are striving to make a companion robot
humanlike to make its conversation with human feel intuitive. This gives rise to an ethical
dilemma and the ethical issues is needed to be addressed.
2.5. ACS Code of Ethics
ACS code of ethics is specifically aimed in analyzing the acceptable professional conduct
of an individual. The ACS code of ethics is often used to solve ethical dilemmas associated with
a particular situation. The code aims in illustrating the professional behavior of an individual.

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The ACS code of ethics is mainly based on six characteristics (McDermid, 2015). The
ethical issues that is being discussed will be analyzed on basis of one particular characteristics of
ACS code of ethics.
One of the characteristics that an individual or business should possess is honesty. The
ACS code of ethics indicates that one should not breach public trust or the trust of the
stakeholders in a profession even if certain negative circumstances arise. According to this
character of ACS code of ethics, one should not knowingly mislead a client or an individual.
Making use of companion robots that is indistinguishable from human is completely unethical on
perspective of social contract theory.
3. Proposed Solution
On analyzing the situation on basis of four classical ethical theories and ACS code of
ethics, it is found out that the use of companion robots can be deceptive to the human and
therefore the entire situation is unethical. One of the proposed solution of the situation can be
maintaining honesty in use of chatbots (Turnbull, 2018). The software developers, business
agencies and government should not receive any human by making use of human like chatbots
that does not reveal its identity.
4. Conclusion
The report analyses an ethical issue on the perspective of four classical ethical theories.
The situation is found unethical on basis of Utilitarianism theory, ACS code of ethics, social
contract theory and character based theory. The use of companion robots although enhances the
quality of life, the increasing use of same give rise to certain ethical issues that are discussed in
the report. As a recommendation, it is suggested that companion robots, capable of performing

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humanlike activities should reveal its true identity to the users in order to eliminate the chances
of deception.

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References
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and responsibility. In International conference on social robotics (pp. 159-168). Springer,
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theories of interpersonal and ethical cognitions to understand ethical decision-
making. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(2), 467-484.
alZahir, S., & Kombo, L. (2014, May). Towards a global code of ethics for engineers.
In Proceedings of the IEEE 2014 International Symposium on Ethics in Engineering,
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Broad, C. D. (2014). Five types of ethical theory. Routledge.
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