We prefer to delegate a moral task to a human, despite that machine errors are not perceived significantly different from human errors and the level of trust toward machines and toward humans does not differ significantly

Rage Against the Machine: Automation in the Moral Domain. Jan Gogoll, Matthias Uhl. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2018.04.003

Highlights
•    We are the first to experimentally investigate delegation to machines in the moral domain
•    Subjects prefer to delegate a moral task to a human
•    Delegators were rewarded less for delegating to a machine
•    Machine errors are not perceived significantly different from human errors
•    Level of trust toward machines and toward humans does not differ significantly

Abstract: The introduction of ever more capable autonomous systems is moving at a rapid pace. The technological progress will enable us to completely delegate to machines processes that were once a prerogative for humans. Progress in fields like autonomous driving promises huge benefits on both economical and ethical scales. Yet, there is little research that investigates the utilization of machines to perform tasks that are in the moral domain. This study explores whether subjects are willing to delegate tasks that affect third parties to machines as well as how this decision is evaluated by an impartial observer. We examined two possible factors that might coin attitudes regarding machine use—perceived utility of and trust in the automated device. We found that people are hesitant to delegate to a machine and that observers judge such delegations in relatively critical light. Neither perceived utility nor trust, however, can account for this pattern. Alternative explanations that we test in a post-experimental survey also do not find support. We may thus observe an aversion per se against machine use in the moral domain.