The responsibility gap: Ascribing responsibility for the actions of learning automata

Abstract. Traditionally, the manufacturer/operator of a machine is held (morally and legally) responsible for the consequences of its operation.Autonomous, learningmachines, based on neural networks, genetic algorithms and agent architectures, create a new situation, where the manufacturer/operator of the machine is in principle not capable of predicting the futuremachine behaviour anymore, and thus cannot be heldmorally responsible or liable for it. The societymust decide between not using this kind of machine anymore (which is not a realistic option), or facing a responsibility gap, which cannot be bridged by traditional concepts of responsibility ascription