Reinforcement Learning and Machine ethics:a systematic review
On the map: Deep reinforcement learning methods → RL training of language and agent models
Abstract (arXiv)
Machine ethics is the field that studies how ethical behaviour can be accomplished by autonomous systems. While there exist some systematic reviews aiming to consolidate the state of the art in machine ethics prior to 2020, these tend to not include work that uses reinforcement learning agents as entities whose ethical behaviour is to be achieved. The reason for this is that only in the last years we have witnessed an increase in machine ethics studies within reinforcement learning. We present here a systematic review of reinforcement learning for machine ethics and machine ethics within reinforcement learning. Additionally, we highlight trends in terms of ethics specifications, components and frameworks of reinforcement learning, and environments used to result in ethical behaviour. Our systematic review aims to consolidate the work in machine ethics and reinforcement learning thus completing the gap in the state of the art machine ethics landscape
Key facts. Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 13 Oct 2026). Placed in RL training of language and agent models, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods. Builds on 21 of its 93 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 2 Jul 2024.
Builds on
21 of 93 references.
References · 21
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- 2020Landscape of Machine Implemented Ethicscited by 13
9 more
- 2023A Human-Centered Safe Robot Reinforcement Learning Framework with Interactive Behaviorscited by 13
- 2023Modeling Moral Choices in Social Dilemmas with Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 10
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Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2024: 1; 2025: 1; 2026: 1.
3 papers.