HFDT Lecture: Burkhard Schafer

Montag, 16. Oktober um 14.30 Uhr

Die Veranstaltung findet hybrid statt, im IDea_Lab, Leechgasse 34, 8010 Graz oder via https://unimeet.uni-graz.at/b/kot-uhv-mm2-oij 

Abstract:
Apologies play a central role in trust recovery. Apologies also play a central role in the law - in the criminal justice system of many countries, an apologetic perpetrator can expect a reduced sentence, while in-house lawyers often discourage employe's from apologising as this can be interpreted as an admission of liability. Increasingly, their power has also been recognised by HCI researchers that imbue machines with the ability to “utter apologies” 
under certain conditions. But what should we make of machine-apologies? Are they merely a form of deception that mimics human apologies, but should not get the same reception let alone legal recognition? Or are there ways to think of machine-apologies as valid speech acts, at least under some conditions? The talk will draw on the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, in particular his thoughts on psychology, theology and linguistics, to make sense of robotapologies, and draw some tentative conclusions for their legal and ethical ramification.
Depending on audience demand, the talk will be either in English or German.

Vortragender
Burkhard Schafer is Professor of Computational Legal Theory at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the SCIPT Centre in IT and IP Law. He studied logic, theory of science, computer linguistic and law at the universities of Main, Munich and Lancaster before joining the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh in 1996. His research interests straddle the use of technology in the justice system (legal informatics/Rechtsinformatik) and the legal regulation of technology (IT law, Informationsrecht), both from an interdisciplinary and comparative-legal perspective. He was Pi or Co-I in projects funded through FP7, EPSRC, ESRC, AHRC and Nordforsk totalling over £12m, most recently the RCUK funded large R&D Cluster “Creative Informatics” which supports the use of data science for individual artists and companies in the creative industries in Scotland.