Normative ethics is a branch of moral philosophy, or ethics, concerned with criteria of what is morally right and wrong. It includes the formulation of moral rules that have direct implications for what human actions, institutions, and ways of life should be like.1 Thus, it is an attempt to figure out what people should do or whether their current moral behavior is reasonable. In many ways, the concept creates a baseline for what is considered normal and what is considered outlying. Of course, one could argue that normal and outlying can only be understood in context. A screaming temper tantrum in a grocery store is “normal” for a three-year-old but outlying for a thirty-year-old. However, it raises an interesting question:
Can the concept of normativity be applied to AI to establish a baseline of normal and outlying? Using the same example, can the way a young AI behaves be considered normal, even if it exhibits erratic behavior?
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/normative-ethics