Robot Law 1.0: On Social System Design for Artificial Intelligence

Date: January 16, 2017 (Monday)

Time: 1pm – 2pm

Venue: Small Moot Court, room 723, 7/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, HKU

Speaker: Dr. Yueh-Hsuan Weng (翁岳暄), Assistant Professor, FRIS, Tohoku University (starting March 2017); Director, CHINA-LII / China Legal Information Institute

Abstract: The rapid increase in the use of robots in our homes and cars, in hospitals and industrial environments is raising questions about what the risks and benefits are on society as a whole. It is expected that there will be strong demand for considering ethical and legal factors into the design process of intelligent robots when they are incorporated into human society.  Hence, legislators or policy makers will need to know the interdisciplinary concept “Social System Design” in order to better regulate social robots and their AI-driven risks. In this talk, Dr. Weng will explain why do we need to consider Social System Design for artificial intelligence and how does this concept affect the development of future regulatory framework for social robots.

About the speaker: Dr. Yueh-Hsuan Weng is newly appointed Assistant Professor at the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Tohoku University (from March 2017) and Director of CHINA-LII / China Legal Information Institute. He received his Ph.D. in Law from Peking University and M.S. in Computer Science from National Chiao Tung University. Before joined Tohoku University he has been appointed as Executive Assistant, Foxconn Technology Group (2015-2017), Visiting Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Bologna (2015), Visiting Researcher, Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda University (2012-2013), Research Associate, Peking University Law School (2010-2014). Administrative Cadre, Conscription Agency, Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China (2008-2009). His research interests are in issues concerning the interface between artificial intelligence and law, mainly including social robotics, technology law, and legal informatics.