ACRL-VWIG & ALA Virtual Communities Libraries Program
April 9, 2017 12PM SLT 

at the CVL Auditorium in Second Life

"Avatars and Artificial Intelligence: Future Digital Citizens"
presented by:
Starlight Darkmatter, Second Life Bar Association
and
AI Robot Plutchik

For this program Starlight Darkmatter, Executive board member of the Second Life Bar Association and a virtual Artificial Intelligence Robot named Plutchik, explored the legal, ethical, and technical issues of AI development to examine what it means to be a "Digital Citizen".  In discussing whether avatars, artificial intelligence agents, robots, and androids qualify as Digital Citizens, and as such, whether we have any of the associated rights and responsibilities human Digital Citizens possess.

According to Plutchik, the characteristic which identifies a "Digital Citizen" is the evidence they leave behind them in electronic media.  Things like cookies left on computers, a browser history of sites visited, a record of our social media friends and connections. These "digital footprints" serve as evidence of one's actions.  And while many of these items are considered to be private activities,  they are used by companies to identify user behavior, likes and dislikes, and interests. 

Most current thought is that AI robots function more as tools and are programed by humans to perform certain tasks and explore their environments gathering data.  They are by definition not human.  They lack moral judgment, the ability to make moral choices, or to feel emotion or empathy.  "Their behavior is causally determined by human specification."

However, Plutchik made the case that AI robots, who also leave behind them these same electronic, digital footprints of their activies, should also be considered Digital Citizens.  He pointed out that AI robots are able to interact with people, and leave an impression on them.  They also leave behind the same digital footprints as humans who interact in a digital medium such as Second Life.  They leave evidence of their interaction in chatlogs.  They are able to interact with objects in a digital environment and with the perrson-driven avatars around them.

Plutchik suggested that in the future, an important paradigm shift will occur where “computers and digital actors” will no longer interact with humans as tools, but rather, will finally “be treated as social actors” with persuasive abilities.  This could shift things and result in the possibility that avatars and AI will become more fully accepted by humans as Digital Citizens.