The Dangers of Digi-things

• Author: Victor Li
• Pages: 38-45

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BOB FERNANDEZ

Dangers

The

Digi-things

During the fi rst sea son of the HBO series Silicon

Vall ey , a main chara cter waiting for his ride home

is stunned when a car pul ls up and the driver’s seat

is completely empty—except for a few metal boxes

with wire s and cords that connect who knows what

to who knows where. He gives his home addr ess to

the voice-activate d system controlling the car, then

sits back for a smooth, safe, uneventf ul ride.

That is, until a computer override k icks in. The car

takes a detour to the dock s, where it enters a shipping

container so it can be ferr ied to a billionaire’s self-made

island in the middle of nowhere. Several d ays later, the

passenger makes it back home,

but all he has is a stor y he’ll

look back on and a hard-ear ned

life lesson: Don’t get into cars

with strange robot s.

This episode underscores

several importa nt issues that

relate to increased r eliance on

robotics, art ifi cial intell igence

and automation: As robots,

computers and softwa re become

more ubiquitous in our everyday

lives, performing t asks that used

to be the sole province of humans,

it’s fair to wonder whether the laws

and regulations designed t o protect those

WRITING THE LAWS

WHEN DRIVERLESS

CARS (OR OTHER

COMPUTERIZED

PRODUCTS) TAKE

A WRONG TURN

of

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BY VICTOR LI

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38 || ABA JOURNAL MARCH 2018