Ethical issues of digitalization

Abstract

The research objective of the paper is to generalize the ethical problems associated with the development and implementation of autonomous robotic technologies (autonomous robotic devices, ARD) in the civil and military spheres. Unresolved ethical problems hinder the development of legal regulation of new technologies. The authors propose a typology of ethical problems of digitalization for the purpose of creating legal regulation concerning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies. Depending on the scope of social relations covered and the forms of regulation proposed, the authors identified four groups of ethical problems of global digitalization, which are considered in the paper: philosophical, humanitarian, socio-ethical, and ethical-legal problems. It is concluded that the legitimacy of managerial decisions that endow robotic technologies with the potential to make decisions in the civil and military spheres should be determined in terms of ethical principles of regulating such relations.