University IT Ethics Essay: Romantic Relationships with AI Robots

This essay explores the ethical considerations of romantic relationships between humans and robots, a topic gaining relevance with advances in artificial intelligence. It examines the potential impact of choosing robots over human partners, analyzing the situation through the lens of four classical ethical theories: utilitarianism, deontology, virtue theory, and contract theory. The essay discusses the positive and negative consequences of such relationships, considering whether forming romantic bonds with robots is ethical based on each theory's principles. The analysis reveals that, with the exception of deontology, most ethical frameworks view human-robot romantic relationships as unethical. The essay concludes by emphasizing the potential ethical challenges that may arise as robots become more integrated into human life.

Running head: TOPICS IN IT ETHICS
Topics in IT Ethics: In the Future, Humans Will Form Romantic Relationships with Robots
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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In the Future, Humans Will Form Romantic Relationships with Robots
Introduction
One of the recent articles by daily mail claims that increasing emergence and
sophistication in artificial intelligence will enable human to have a romantic relationship in near
future. The article claims that people will be able to find a long lasting love with the human
robots, and there is a possibility of them being the perfect companions or even spouses. Another
similar article brings forward the prediction of futurist Ian Pearson which says by the year 2025-
2050 women will choose robots instead of men and that every person will want to be with a bot
instead of human (IEEE - The Institute, 2018)). There is a possibility that people will dump their
significant human partners for the love of a robot. This situation therefore gives rise to the ethical
dilemma about choosing a robot instead of a human partner. The essay discusses the positive and
negative impact of the situation and analyses the current scenario based on four classical ethical
theories, which are theory of utilitarianism, deontological theory, theory of virtue and contract
theory. The essay will try to analyse whether it is ethical to have a romantic relationship with a
robot instead of human.
1. Utilitarian theory
The theory of utiliatarism, the rightness or wrongness of an action is mainly evaluated on
basis of the consequences it will have on people (Willis, 2014). According to this theory, a
situation will be ethical only if it maximizes the utility of the human. Robots no doubt are
programmed in such a manner that it makes human lives easier. The robots are expected to
reduce the human effort and make their life easier (Hayry, 2013). However, the use of robot or
dumping the human partners for establishing a relationship with the robots will definitely lead to

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a negative consequence. Furthermore, use of robots for developing romantic relationship is not at
all needed since humans are therefore for that. The negative consequence of developing romantic
relationship with the robots is that it will effect adversely on the emotion of a human. However,
there is a positive consequence of setting up a relationship with a robot as the robots are able to
decide the type of interaction the owner wishes to have. A robot can never offend a human unless
it is programmed to do so. The robots are therefore expected to understand a human’s mind in a
better way than a human can. Furthermore, a robot will always respond positively to the human
(Leite, Martinho & Paiva, 2013). However, this will make a relationship quite mechanic which
will not bring in any positive value for the human. Therefore, the idea of use of robot in place of
human to develop a romantic relationship is completely unethical on basis of Utilitarian theory of
ethics.
The situation is further evaluated on bases of the deontology theory, theory of virtue and
contact theory to understand whether it is ethical to use robots in place of human to develop a
romantic relationship.
2. Deontology Theory
Deontology theory of ethics states that the morality of an action is evaluated on basis of
some set rules. This theory considers that the rightness or wrongness of an action mainly
determines whether a particular situation is ethical or not irrespective of the consequence
(Conway & Gawronski, 2013). Therefore, even of the consequence of a negative action gives
positive results, it will be unethical based on the theory of deontology. In the current situation,
the robots are configured according to the need of the human. The robots will be customized by
the human and the specifications will be set on the robot according to the need and desires of the

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human (Gray & Schein, 2012). This action may not be wrong since it is not wrong to wish for a
perfect partner and if human is not able to fulfil that wish; it is not unethical to make use of the
robots for fulfilling that desire. This action furthermore is nor creating any problem for the other
people of society. Therefore it is not wrong to imagine or actually be a part of a marriage
between a human and a robot since this action is expected not to create any sort of problems for
the human or the society. Therefore, on analysing the situation of basis of deontology theory, that
determines the morality of a situation based on the morality of its action, the situation involving
a romantic relationship between a robot and a human is not unethical (Habermas, 2014).
However, the consequence of such relationship is not analysed and the deontology theory of
ethics is based on the rightness and wrongness of the actions associated with a situation and not
its consequence.
3. Virtue Theory
The virtue theory of ethics is an approach that gives greater importance to the character
of an individual and considers it to be an important element associated with ethical thinking
(Dion, 2012). One of the major issues associated with the establishment of a romantic
relationship with a robot is that, robot cannot love human. Therefore robots cannot provide the
humans with the love that a human can provide his/ her partners. Therefore use of robot in
establishing a romantic relationship although seems to be an advanced idea; it does not support
the virtue and moral character of a human. If a human loves a robot, the love is one sided as the
robots cannot be programmed in a manner that they can love human (Auger, 2014). They can
only fulfil the needs of their human parent for not love the same way a human can love there
partner. It is not easy to replicate a soul although there are many humans that believe robots can
equally love them back in near future. There have been studies and researches, where humans

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have reported that they felt love from the robots. However, this might not be possible to achieve
in near future and therefore, on analysing the situation on basis of virtue ethics, it is found out
that the situation of establishing a romantic relationship with the robots is unethical.
4. Contract Theory
Contract theory or social contract theory of ethics considers a situation to be ethical only
if it is accepted by a large number of people in the society. It can be expected that the
relationships with robots will not be accepted by the large number of people in society. There are
certain potential concerns associated with the situation that involves human and robot
partnership. There will be laws and policies in order to prevent the people of the society in
establishing romantic relationship with the robots (Seibt, Nørskov & Hakli, 2014). These laws
are expected to prevent human-robot relationships and therefore, large part of the society has to
follow the same. Therefore, on analyzing the situation on basis of social contract theory of ethics
it is found out that the situation involving the relationship with the robots is unethical.
Conclusion
The essay aimed at analyzing a situation on basis of the four classical ethical theories.
The situation involves establishment of romantic relationship between a human and a robot.
There are certain positive and negative perspectives of the situation that involves establishing of
romantic relationships with robots that are evaluated in the essay. Expect the deontology theory
of ethics all other ethical theory considers the situation of establishment of romantic relationship
with robots as unethical. Since deontology theory analyzes a particular situation on basis of its
action, it does not find the use of robots as partner to be unethical. In future it is expected that
robots will take the place of human which may not be ethical.

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References
Auger, J. H. (2014). Living with robots: A speculative design approach. Journal of Human-
Robot Interaction, 3(1), 20-42.
Conway, P., & Gawronski, B. (2013). Deontological and utilitarian inclinations in moral decision
making: a process dissociation approach. Journal of personality and social
psychology, 104(2), 216.
Dion, M. (2012). Are ethical theories relevant for ethical leadership?. Leadership &
Organization Development Journal, 33(1), 4-24.
Gray, K., & Schein, C. (2012). Two minds vs. two philosophies: Mind perception defines
morality and dissolves the debate between deontology and utilitarianism. Review of
Philosophy and Psychology, 3(3), 405-423.
Habermas, J. (2014). The future of human nature. John Wiley & Sons.
Hayry, M. (2013). Liberal utilitarianism and applied ethics. Routledge.
In the Future, Humans Will Form Romantic Relationships With Robots - IEEE - The Institute.
(2018). Retrieved from
http://theinstitute.ieee.org/ieee-roundup/members/achievements/in-the-future-humans-
will-form-romantic-relationships-with-robots
Leite, I., Martinho, C., & Paiva, A. (2013). Social robots for long-term interaction: a
survey. International Journal of Social Robotics, 5(2), 291-308.

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Seibt, J., Nørskov, M., & Hakli, R. (Eds.). (2014). Sociable Robots and the Future of Social
Relations: Proceedings of Robo-Philosophy 2014 (Vol. 273). Ios Press.
Willis, J. E. (2014). Learning analytics and ethics: A framework beyond utilitarianism. Educause
Review.