# Landscape of Machine Implemented Ethics

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.00335 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.00335/

## Key facts

- Cited by 13 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 1 Sep 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Metaethical Perspectives on 'Benchmarking' AI Ethics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.05151/) (2022)
- [Moral Dilemmas for Moral Machines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.06152/) (2022)
- [Value Engineering for Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.08759/) (2023)
- [Reinforcement Learning and Machine ethics:a systematic review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.02425/) (2024)
- [Immune Moral Models? Pro-Social Rule Breaking as a Moral Enhancement Approach for Ethical AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.04022/) (2021)
- [Ensuring trustworthy and ethical behaviour in intelligent logical agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.07547/) (2024)
- [Advising Autonomous Cars about the Rules of the Road](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14035/) (2022)
- [Intuitions of Compromise: Utilitarianism vs. Contractualism](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.05496/) (2024)
- [Automation: An Essential Component Of Ethical AI?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15739/) (2021)
- [Towards An Ethics-Audit Bot](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15746/) (2021)
- [Adaptive reinforcement learning of multi-agent ethically-aligned behaviours: the QSOM and QDSOM algorithms](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.00552/) (2023)
- [Virtue Ethics For Ethically Tunable Robotic Assistants](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.16361/) (2024)
- [RobEthiChor: Automated Context-aware Ethics-based Negotiation for Autonomous Robots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.22664/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This paper surveys the state-of-the-art in machine ethics, that is, considerations of how to implement ethical behaviour in robots, unmanned autonomous vehicles, or software systems. The emphasis is on covering the breadth of ethical theories being considered by implementors, as well as the implementation techniques being used. There is no consensus on which ethical theory is best suited for any particular domain, nor is there any agreement on which technique is best placed to implement a particular theory. Another unresolved problem in these implementations of ethical theories is how to objectively validate the implementations. The paper discusses the dilemmas being used as validating 'whetstones' and whether any alternative validation mechanism exists. Finally, it speculates that an intermediate step of creating domain-specific ethics might be a possible stepping stone towards creating machines that exhibit ethical behaviour.