The impact of autonomous robots on society and law: a forecasting dimension
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37772/2518-1718-2026-1(53)-12Keywords:
autonomous robots, civilizational waves of societal development, artificial intelligence and law, the digital human, social values, social singularityAbstract
Problem setting. Modern social reality is characterized by an unprecedented total transformation of individual and social existence under global technological influence, caused by the development of artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and global crises that change human nature, values, and paradigms of human development. Autonomous robots are one of many technologies created by humans and used by them for various purposes, both good and, conversely, not good. The question arises: what role do law, ethics, and politics play in regulating this influence and in ensuring the protection of the fundamental values of society? The answer to this question requires an interdisciplinary approach, since only by considering it from different perspectives can the social and legal impact of such systems be understood. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The problematic issues in research on the technological impact on society, individuals, and law are interdisciplinary. Recently, scientists and futurists have actively discussed questions regarding the status of a person under the influence of technological advancements (R. Kurzweil, A. Reqwitz, M. Bordes and others). Researchers pay significant attention to ethical boundaries, social and existential risks (S. Russell). Ukrainian researchers, in their works, analyze the impact of the development of digital technologies, which are developing exponentially, on society, individuals, and the law; they discuss the existential meanings of social singularity, the image of the future of humanity. This issue is addressed in the works of scholars of the Ukrainian socio-philosophical school: N. Ventsel, V. Voronkova, N. Kovtun, O. Konovalенко and I. Utyuzh, and others. In the works of Ukrainian legal scholars, the philosophical-legal aspects of the technological attitude to legal knowledge and the digitization of law are highlighted (Zh. Pavlenko and others), questions of fundamental values in modern conditions (Yu. Razmetaeva and N. Filatova-Bilous and others), human rights through the prism of artificial intelligence, robotics, and the digital human (O. Radutny and others), the legal status of artificial intelligence (T. Popovich and others). The purpose of the research is how to provide regulatory mechanisms to counter the potential harms posed by autonomous robots and avoid the trap of treating them as something completely new, while at the same time being mindful of their impact on society. Articleʼs main body. The article argues that understanding the social and legal impact of autonomous robots is possible only through examining the issue from multiple perspectives, as it requires an interdisciplinary approach. It is established that while we shape technologies and technologies, in turn, shape us, it is essential to find an answer to the question of how to ensure this process of mutual influence in a way that protects rather than undermines legal, moral, and political standards. In this context, the need to focus on the issue of autonomous robots and justice is emphasized, particularly within the framework of the interrelationship between justice, the rule of law, and equality. The importance of the ethical dimension—specifically moral responsibility—is highlighted in order to determine how responsibility should be appropriately attributed to autonomous systems and whether the use of autonomous artificial intelligence creates a responsibility gap. The need to analyze the relationship between autonomous artificial systems, power, and responsibility is also identified. Conclusions and prospects for development. A possible approach to defining reference points in a situation that is dynamically changing under the influence of technology, and to ensuring regulatory mechanisms to counteract the potential harm posed by autonomous robots—while avoiding the trap of treating them as something entirely new and at the same time keeping in mind their impact on society—is, in contemporary philosophical and legal discourse, associated with the formation of the concept of social singularity.
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