The main aim of this report is to study the ethical concerns associated with the Humanisation of robots in the healthcare system, along with focusing on the necessity for restricting the boundaries for their rights. The key focused area of this report is assessing the necessity for limiting the robot's rights. The humanisation of robots by imposing human characteristics and giving them equal rights as humans leads to increased ethical concerns (Mamak, 2022). This report is mainly categorised into four different sections. The first part is the introduction, which briefly outlines the case study and focuses on the background of autonomous technology; the brief introduction is about the Humanisation of robots in the healthcare industry.
The next part is the main report. The literature review of various authors' perspectives considering the main topic will be analysed in this section. From the author's point of view, even though the benefits of technological advancements are widely acknowledged, specific ethical implications are unspoken. The Humanisation of robots is one of the prominent advances of autonomous technologies, but it still needs to address its ethical landscape. The impact of these humanised robots in healthcare and the ethical challenges will be mainly explored by analysing various research studies in this section.
The third section concerns a precise analysis of autonomous technology and will focus on the ethical objections and concerns associated with robots' Humanisation in healthcare services. Humanising robots aims to achieve improved robot and patient interaction by delivering effective healthcare services. However, these robots will negatively impact healthcare standards, leading to rising ethical complications. This report will mainly address ethical challenges involved in the social intelligence of robots by analysing their adverse impacts on healthcare. Various areas of healthcare, such as patient care and surgical robots, will be explored.
The fourth section is reflection and discussion; a consideration will be drawn on how patients are affected by the humanised robot system and its associated ethical implications. Adopting proper guidelines for restricting robot rights will also be discussed. Additionally, appropriate recommendations will be drawn based on the case study analysis concerning future and present scope. These recommendations will improve ethical standards by increasing accountability and transparency.
The final section is the conclusion. An appropriate determination about how autonomous system innovations lead to increased ethical complications and societal issues will be drawn by focusing on the overall analysis results. The report's primary purpose is to explore how humanised robots impact patients and why we need to draw a line for robotic rights—and also examine the necessity for addressing ethical landscape standards in the humanised robots in the healthcare industry and guidelines for automated rights proper use in order to mitigate any future challenges.
The healthcare industry is one of the transformative businesses coming upon new insights by adopting autonomous technologies to deliver reformed patient care and healthcare administration (Giger et al., 2019) (Morgan et al., 2022). Advanced healthcare plays a vital role in improving lifestyle as it is a crucial pillar for humankind. The various components of artificial intelligence, such as the Internet of Things, computing, robotic services, and sensors, are efficiently integrated into day medical activities (Alshehri & Muhammad, 2020). Even though the benefits of technology advancements are widely acknowledged, the ethical issues associated with AI technologies are unspoken. The humanisation of robots is defined as the development of robot machines with human emotions and cognitive behaviour, including human appearance. Even though humanised robots can mimic human behaviour, they still need to adopt human standards in their functionalities, such as critical decision-making. With the humanisation of robots, developers are hoping for effective interaction between humans and social robots (Wullenkord, 2020). However, humanising robots in healthcare has failed to improve the interaction between robots and patients. For the humanisation of robots, there is a need to give specific rights to behave like humans by increasing their efficiency in responding and interacting with humans. However, considering the ethical complications associated with providing them equal rights as humans, it is leading to the focus on the necessity of restricting their boundaries (Ahmadzai, 2023). The main challenge related to the humanisation of robots is addressing its ethical landscape. The insights will be drawn in this case study by focusing on eliminating ethical complications with specific recommendations.
This report aims to understand the negative consequences of humanising robots and deploying them in healthcare services. The humanisation of robots will impose human characteristics on these robotic machines, and giving them certain rights will lead to increased ethical complications. This report will address the need for a breakdown of automated rights in order to mitigate ethical concerns in achieving the standards of healthcare services. Based upon the overall analysis, these ethical considerations will be discussed by drawing recommendations based on future and present scope.
Main Report
The rising scope of AI advancements in the healthcare industry also results in a focus on ethical considerations. The main problem associated with deploying AI technology in medical training in the healthcare industry is pursuing the standards of ethical considerations and bias in robot decision-making (Fatih , 2023). The adoption of robotic advancements in medical training is unable to achieve its transparency and safety standards. Therefore, it leads to various ethical concerns by questioning the privacy and security of the patients (Felzmann, 2020). There is a necessity for having more responsibility towards the development of these social reports in order to provide quality healthcare services for patients (Tahri et al., 2023). To develop these robots, the developers should focus on three factors: social, ethical and legal aspects. The author suggested a five-pillar framework for addressing the ethical landscape of the healthcare system by the medical robots (Tahri et al., 2023). This framework will assist in promoting the ethical design of the robots based on the five key factors: transparency, fairness, safety, accountability, and collaboration (Tahri et al., 2023).
From the perspective of Yuan et al. (2023), specific research is going on with the development of social robots, mainly in healthcare facilities. For instance, these robots care for older adults by working toward their well-being, i.e., pre-and post-surgery. According to this research conducted by the author based on Toronto’s care ethics framework, healthcare robots have failed to achieve the standards of providing services (Yuan et al., 2023). There are specific drawbacks; one is attentiveness, where the patients also require emotional assistance, which cannot be given by the robots (Yuan et al., 2023). It limits the overall care provided by the robot. Human caregivers are efficient in handling these kinds of situations by acting according to the patient's needs (Yuan et al., 2023). The lack of independence is another drawback for these robots, where there is a requirement for the supervisor to handle services carried out by these robots (Yuan et al., 2023). There is a necessity for the adoption of ethical guidelines in robot design by having an effective collaboration between caregivers and robot developers.
The humanisation of robots is referred to as social robots, and its key aim is to improve the interaction between people and robots by enhancing socio-interactive levels. According to Giger et al. (2019)., there is a high level of complexity in achieving the natural interaction between people and robots. The critical complications in humanising robots are negative attitudes and perceptions regarding these social robots. People are interested in social robots, which can be used for dangerous jobs such as military, space-oriented, manufacturing, and rescue operations (Giger et al., 2019). However, people are not interested in social interaction with humanised robots, and they are unwilling to deploy them in children or patient care. The social robots can only mimic human emotions and cannot make decisions based on them. This results in trust issues among the people, leading to ethical concerns and giving equal rights to robots as humans raises ethical debates based upon legal and social constraints (Mamak, 2022).
The scope of artificial intelligence technologies is continuously rising by adopting technological advancements in our daily lives (Mamak, 2022). From the author’s perspective, rising ethical concerns are associated with giving equal rights to non-human entities like robots, which will lead to severe consequences (Mamak, 2022) (Ahmadzai, 2023). The robots do not have any emotions or feelings as they act according to the programs to perform their duties (Ahmadzai, 2023). Giving them equal rights as humans will not make any sense. There is a requirement to adopt specific legal frameworks and rights to mitigate the malicious use of humanised robots. However, giving human rights to social robots will cause social issues and ethical complications due to their incapability to adapt to the situations. It will lead to improper decision-making as the humanised robots are incapable of addressing human emotions and ethical dilemmas.
The primary objective of implementing social robots in healthcare practices is to mitigate the various problems in healthcare services. However, the social robots resulted in increased sustainable ethical concerns. From Heike's (2020) point of view, social robots are incapable of performing assessment and monitoring in healthcare services. The ethical problems associated with deploying medical robots are increased quality and privacy concerns (Felzmann, 2020). These issues will impact the value of patient care by leading to an ineffective healthcare system. Social robots are used in various healthcare practices, such as diagnosis, testing, and patient care, including children and older care (Felzmann, 2020). The need for more transparency is leading to complications in gaining acceptance of the people. The author argued that there is a requirement for value-sensitive design to deploy social robots in the healthcare system. The professionals should also be well-trained to use medical robots properly as this may result in the loss of lives. The complexities evolved with robotic surgery assistance, and there is a rise in inequality in efficiently using technological benefits. It is necessary to address these patient safety concerns to avoid human lloss. Even though people are interested in surgical robots and their assistance in patient care, it is essential to understand the extent of care and associated complications.
The scope of artificial intelligence in the healthcare system is continuously rising through various advancements and innovations. AI medical advancements are focusing on improving healthcare services. However, the robot systems are not able to achieve their quality standards, increasing ethical complications and concerns. AI bias is one of the rising ethical concerns; it is affecting the ideals of effective patient care, resulting in inequalities (Giger et al., 2019). The system bias is based on various aspects such as ethnicity, race, colour, socioeconomic factors, and so on. This bias results in negative consequences by poorly delivering services for the people. However, there are various challenges in mitigating this bias by the AI systems, such as a lack of unified definition and giving equal rights as humans for the humanised robots, which leads to increased ethical dilemmas by raising various concerns (Ahmadzai, 2023). The increased unintended consequences based on this programming will lead to biases against certain groups by impacting overall decision-making. Based upon the overall constraints associated with humanised robots, there is a requirement to restrict these robot rights is essential.
Even though AI's adoption in healthcare focuses on improved patient care, biased AI is its dark side (Fatih , 2023). The humanised robots will be programmed to mimic the human. The programming of robots will be based on the perception of a developer. The person's perceptions may include negativity about a particular group or racial discrimination, which will reflect on the robot's behaviour. Even the robot's functionalities will be based on the data given, as certain information may have an unfair or unintentional bias. As they act according to the design, it leads to prejudice and discrimination (Wullenkord, 2020). This behaviour of the robot system is leading to ethical challenges by showing discrimination against certain social groups in providing healthcare. The actions of these robots are questioning human laws and raising inequalities in delivering healthcare services. With this bias, humanised robots are unable to provide effective patient care or deliver proper medical outcomes. For instance, according to the research conducted on skin cancer detection algorithms, the accurate detection rate of skin cancer is high in light-skinned people and ineffective in black skin analysis (Curt et al., 2020).
The need for more clarity and accountability is a critical concern area with humanised robots. In the healthcare system, humanised robots will be deployed in various practices, including patient care, diagnosis, and surgeries, through direct interaction with the patient. Even though different legal principles and guidelines are adopted in the robot's deployment, various areas require more attention. For instance, surgical robots have chances for surgical errors impacting patients’ lives, sometimes even death (Han et al., 2022). The legal factors cannot be applied to robots compared to human surgeries as they are accountable for the patient’s safety, and the need for these considerations is rising. It leads to patient trust issues as the surgical robots were referred to as complex systems of critical algorithms.
The emotional engagement of the robots is a critical issue for adopting these robots in healthcare. Empathy and sympathy are vital areas that need to be addressed by humanised robots to gain improved interaction with people (Quick, 2022). Even though the robots are developed with emotional intelligence to assist the patient, they cannot provide emotional engagement as the robot's feelings are artificial. In the case of patient care, with these humanised robots taking care of the elderly or children, there is a necessity for having an emotional engagement. For patients with mental health issues, these robot systems should respond and react to the patient's needs by having empathy toward them. However, humanised robots are unable to engage with an emotional attachment to the patient's needs, often leading to ethical issues. This legal ambiguity leads to concerns about restricting the rights of humanised robots.
The main question with deploying humanised robots in healthcare is whether they can make ethical decisions. Even though humanised robots are mainly focused on appropriately interacting with people, they cannot achieve those ethical standards in their decision-making. A more critical understanding of ethics is a primary concern area. Even though the robots are programmed to focus on adapting specific guidelines in principles to promote the ethical landscape, it is necessary to understand the particular situation to promote moral decision-making. However, humanised robots are unable to attain these decision-making standards because of a lack of understanding of ethics and adaptability. Human ethical values are very complex as they vary from one person to another based upon their culture or experiences. The programming of ethical principles will also be based on the perceptions of individuals, i.e., the developer (Wullenkord, 2020). This individual may impose his perceptions on the robots. The critical aspect of promoting ethical decision-making is learning from personal experiences and the ability to understand and address unintended consequences that cannot be programmed prior (Huang, 2022). Even though certain rights are given to humanised robots to perform ethical decision-making, they are unable to handle the ethical dilemmas and unintended consequences associated with the situation. The ethical dilemmas are leading to inappropriate behaviours in robots that result in potential health hazards and even deaths (Yasuhara, 2021). According to a study conducted on surgical robots in the US over the past 14 years, this has resulted in about 144 deaths and more than 1000 injuries (BBC, 2015).
Healthcare robots are termed technological advancement for effective health services but can still make errors. The privacy and security of patients are rising concerns associated with humanised robots. For example, Surgical robots are the most tremendous advancement of AI in healthcare. There are various issues with the functionalities of robotic surgery, and they are prone to technical errors, which is one of the biggest concerns. These systems are experiencing inevitable software failures and malfunctions, compromising patient safety, not only in terms of physical safety but also rising issues associated with cyber security. At that point, the rise of privacy and security concerns can be seen in the compromise of patients' sensitive information (Felzmann, 2020).
However, there are certain complications with patient data collection by AI robots, leading to ethical dilemmas (Yasuhara, 2021). The large volumes of patient data are the primary challenge, provoking patient trust issues. The questions are being raised regarding what kind of data is being collected. What are the storage procedures and accessibility? What happens to the data after a certain period? With cyber-attacks, the misuse of information can be done as the robot consists of patient data. According to the research made on lung scans based on machine learning algorithms, robot systems are prone to adversarial attacks (Samuel et al., 2019). The sensitive data can be compromised by these cyber-attacks, leading to inaccurate medical reports.
Based on the overall analysis of the literature review, there are various ethical concerns associated with the concept of humanising robots in healthcare and giving them equal rights to humans. Along with the benefits of technology, we should also focus on the ethical concerns involved in adopting any technology. By giving equal rights to humans, there will be a rise in numerous ethical concerns in the healthcare industry. According to the works of literature, the critical complication associated with the deployment of humanised robots in healthcare industries is bias and discrimination, affecting patient care. Giving them equal rights as humans will lead to discrimination and bias against certain groups in society. Adopting these perceptions in decision-making leads to medical errors and rising ethical concerns. The humanised robots will work based on connectivity, and critical algorithms may result in system failures and software glitches. The system failures and associated problems will result in inadequate decision-making, affecting patient safety. These errors will also lead to the challenges associated with the liabilities by raising questions regarding the responsibility for robot mistakes.
The emotional impact of humanised robots is another rising concern that directly aligns with patient care. The lack of emotional connectivity between the patients and the humanised robot is a fundamental ethical issue. It also leads to ineffective decision-making and unintended consequences. The main problem with the standards of decision-making by the robot system is a lack of ethical understanding and improper design. Humanised robots are prone to high levels of cyber security concerns. For example, the lung scan or any diagnosis robot system can be compromised with the piece of data, leading to questions regarding the privacy and security of the patient. Liability and culpability are the legal problems of incompetent robots (Gumbs et al., 2021). The lack of responsibility and transparency is significantly impacting healthcare services, leading to problems in the ethical landscape. Based upon these considerations, in my perspective, there is a necessity to understand the complications associated with humanised robot adoption in the healthcare industry. It is also essential to restrict the rights of humanised robots.
From the analysis, the ethical governance in humanised robots will help to gain public trust, which will aid in the emergence of humanised robot technologies in the healthcare industry. There are three factors that will determine that humanised robots could be more efficient in addressing ethical standards. Accountability, liability, and culpability are critical aspects which will promote the responsibility of robots in healthcare (Gumbs et al., 2021).
Based on the analysis from the literature review, there is a need to restrict the rights of humanised robots as they result in increased ethical concerns in healthcare services. The following recommendations will help in overcoming these ethical challenges. By considering patient care, involving the patients through effective communication with emotional consent will increase the effectiveness of healthcare services (Quick, 2022). However, the robots must be more capable of attaining these communication standards. So, the developer should focus on the patient's anatomy by giving more importance to informed consent.
Through this, the patients will understand the complications associated with the ongoing procedures with these robots. There is a necessity for increased focus on patient-centric clinical practices, and proper training should be given to the robots. There is much focus needed on ethics by designing and involving the ethical considerations in mind during the development (Tahri et al., 2023). The developer should depend on ethicists and healthcare professionals to attain those standards. Aiming for transparency by reducing the complexities in understanding the robot's context by the healthcare professionals and patients will help mitigate unintended consequences. Adopting these technologies through real-time predictions and effective analytics has assured more informed decision-making.
The continuous improvement of the system through increasing its reliability is one of the significant steps that will contribute to reducing these ethical concerns. So, regular system updates with ethical standards and proper review and assessment programs with ongoing education will simulate the decision-making capabilities of the robots. The developers should make sure to eliminate any bias and discrimination against groups. They should also perform regular audits to destroy any inadequate data resulting in bias. Proper education and training should be given based on cultural sensitivity to improve patient connectivity. Human oversight is the primary recommendation as it will help overcome the complexities in various critical decisions.
Hence, to maintain trust in the healthcare system, it is necessary to have a proper patient data management system by learning from previous failures. In order to mitigate the concerns with patient data privacy, there is a need to focus on specific factors associated with data collection by humanised robots. One of the factors is focusing on only required data in the medical process by eliminating unnecessary and irrelevant information. It is necessary to ensure an encryption process for only authorised personalities to gain access to the data. There is a requirement for ethical committees and a practical framework with appropriate transparency and patient care (Tahri et al., 2023). By these guidelines, specific ethical dilemmas can be efficiently negotiated. Adopting a regulatory framework governing the ethical standards of these robots with proper procedures will increase accountability. The responsibilities of each person associated with the robot's functioning will be guided in the framework, from manufacturers to healthcare professionals.
Currently, the healthcare industry is at its midpoint for having a transformation. There is a rise in the need for various technical advancements with increased medical expenses and a lower rate of experts. The main aim of adopting humanised technologies is that there has been an increased number of chronic problems, so it is necessary to address these complications in the healthcare industry effectively (Betriana et al., 2022) (Morgan et al., 2022). With the help of humanised robots, the efficiency of patient care can be improved with enhanced medical assistance. However, humanised robots have challenged the industry's ethical standards by having various ethical complications. The primary aim of robot assistance is to improve health conditions by mitigating severe health hazards. In reality, these humanised robots are leading to increased safety concerns. Based on the literature review of this study, the various ethical obsessions associated with the humanisation of robots in healthcare industries are explored. So, there is a necessity to eliminate bias and discrimination in the decision-making of robots, along with focusing on improving the ethical impact and security features.
Finally, to conclude, Even though developers are hoping for a better future with technological advancements, addressing ethical and moral values is necessary, too. Along with precise and accurate services essential in healthcare by robots, there is a necessity to provide empathy and satisfy the emotional needs of the patients (Quick, 2022). This will result in better outcomes in the healthcare industry. The recommendations suggested in the report will assist in eliminating the ethical challenges which are currently emerging by humanised robots. This will increase the overall transparency and accountability aspects in the adoption of humanised robots in the healthcare industry. There are still certain complications that may arise in the future. So, the developers should adopt ethics by design and proper analysis in the future perspective to mitigate any difficulties further. By this, healthcare professionals can provide adequate care for the patient by easily maintaining their privacy and security.
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