Article:

Autonome Trolleys und andere Probleme. Konfigurationen Künstlicher Intelligenz in ethischen Debatten über selbstfahrende Kraftfahrzeuge

The text engages critically with current debates on self-driving vehicles that relate to what are known as «trolley problems» and other dilemmas. It argues that these cases depend on very specific presuppositions. This shifts attention away from other social, political, or ethical problems that will most certainly become relevant with the introduction of self-driving vehicles. The text offers a detailed analysis of the relationship of humans and technology that is implied in the debates on autonomous vehicles. It then connects this relationship with similar configurations in the area of autonomous weapon systems. This analysis shows how the idea of «ethics as configuration» emerges and is perpetuated. An ethical and political debate on artificial intelligence needs to problematize this idea, especially because such a relationship of humans and technology implies that ethically correct killing is possible and legitimizes problematic forms of categorizing epistemologies.