Engineered Arts: Robotizing Humanity?

In June 2024, Will Jackson, the founder and chief executive officer of Engineered Arts Limited (EA), faced a dilemma: How could his company balance commercial sustainability with ethical and regulatory compliance? EA was a UK-based designer and manufacturer of humanoid robots, most notably the Ameca robot, which had been installed in museums, science centres, and other public venues around the world where it greeted visitors and answered questions. Although EA was in a financially comfortable position, the company wanted to increase production of its humanoid robots, as this could help it achieve economies of scale. To date, EA had grown via the business-to-business model; should it now also embrace the business-to-consumer model? EA already had considerable ethical obligations to its customers and would face serious legal problems if its robots did not comply with regulations. And by producing robots that replaced employees, EA was taking jobs away from real people. Now EA also had to confront the privacy issues and potential data theft implicit in robot deployment. How would these ethical challenges affect EA’s business model and its own functioning as a profitable business?