# Implementations in Machine Ethics: A Survey

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.07573 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.07573/

## Key facts

- Cited by 16 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 21 Jan 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [EtiCor: Corpus for Analyzing LLMs for Etiquettes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.18974/) (2023)
- [Guilty Artificial Minds](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04209/) (2021)
- [Towards Artificial Virtuous Agents: Games, Dilemmas and Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.14037/) (2022)
- [Artificial virtuous agents in a multiagent tragedy of the commons](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.02769/) (2022)
- [Addressing Moral Uncertainty using Large Language Models for Ethical Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.05724/) (2025)
- [On the Computational Complexity of Ethics: Moral Tractability for Minds and Machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.04218/) (2023)
- [Playing the Blame Game with Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.04527/) (2021)
- [The Linguistic Blind Spot of Value-Aligned Agency, Natural and Artificial](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.00868/) (2022)
- [Advising Autonomous Cars about the Rules of the Road](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14035/) (2022)
- [Metacognitive Agents for Ethical Decision Support: Conceptual Model and Research Roadmap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.12039/) (2022)
- [Automated Kantian Ethics: A Faithful Implementation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.10152/) (2022)
- [Uncertain Machine Ethical Decisions Using Hypothetical Retrospection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.01424/) (2023)
- [Can Artificial Intelligence Embody Moral Values?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.12250/) (2024)
- [RobEthiChor: Automated Context-aware Ethics-based Negotiation for Autonomous Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.22664/) (2025)
- [Advancing Automated Ethical Profiling in SE: a Zero-Shot Evaluation of LLM Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.00881/) (2025)
- [The Alignment Target Problem: Divergent Moral Judgments of Humans, AI Systems, and Their Designers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.24155/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Increasingly complex and autonomous systems require machine ethics to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks to society arising from the new technology. It is challenging to decide which type of ethical theory to employ and how to implement it effectively. This survey provides a threefold contribution. First, it introduces a trimorphic taxonomy to analyze machine ethics implementations with respect to their object (ethical theories), as well as their nontechnical and technical aspects. Second, an exhaustive selection and description of relevant works is presented. Third, applying the new taxonomy to the selected works, dominant research patterns, and lessons for the field are identified, and future directions for research are suggested.