"Picture the scenario - a sentient machine is "living" in the US in the year 2050 and starts browsing through the US constitution.
Having read it, it decides that it wants the opportunity to vote.
Oh, and it also wants the right to procreate. Pretty basic human rights that it feels it should have now it has human-level intelligence.
"Do you give it the right to vote or the right to procreate because you can't do both?" asks Ryan Calo, a law professor at the University of Washington.
"It would be able to procreate instantly and infinitely so if it and its offspring could vote, it would break the democratic system."
"Criminal law requires intent and these systems don't do things wrong on purpose," said Prof Calo."
- Date Published:09/28/2015
- Original Publication:BBC News