Labor has seen many twists and turns throughout human history and it has not always been pleasant for those on the working side. Throughout time, human beings have engaged in forced labor that includes slavery, communist labor camps, colonization, and extreme capitalism. While it is easy to look back at these examples and call them barbaric, humans often accept their practice as a normal part of daily life. 

So, if we look to the future, what will our perception of labor look like when we consider robotics and sentient artificial intelligence? Will we have the wisdom to see a group of workers being forced to produce or will it appear as another cultural norm that goes unquestioned with many disregarding the life of a machine the same way that humans used to disregard the life of humans ruled by chattel slavery? 

Historical Slavery: An Overview

Chattel slavery was first introduced in the 15th and 16th centuries after the discovery of the Americas after the Portuguese developed the caravel, a revolutionary sailing ship that allowed sailors to venture into the deep ocean. Not only did this design open up exploration of the Americas, but it also gave Europeans greater access to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Upon their arrival to West Africa, Portuguese explorers discovered that the Muslim world had created a market for slaves with a network of Africans being trafficked across North and West Africa. While this slave trade was not motivated by race, it was predominantly made up of African people. 

The discovery of this market was ideal for the Portuguese because colonization efforts in the Americas required a large amount of laborers to fill the plantations and native Americans were struggling to survive the massive wave of diseases brought by the Europeans while also being forced to convert to Catholicism. This left a void that slavery was perfect for filling, resulting in the triangular slave trade which took people from Africa to the New World where they were exchanged for goods that were brought back to Europe and bought with capital that was used to purchase more slaves. 

Robotic Workforce: A Glimpse into the Future

While significantly less sinister than slavery, a robotic workforce carries many of the same traits as slavery in terms of resource demand and labor practices. Viewed as non-humans in the same way slaves typically were, there is a distinct lack of concern for a machine’s overall well-being outside routine maintenance needs. 

Industrial robotics are automated systems powered by AI and deep learning that don’t require sleep and can function 24/7. Without a need for sleep, machines can operate on heavy equipment without fatigue which creates huge boosts in productivity. Moreover, they didn’t require wages or other benefits just like slaves didn’t receive, making profit margins much higher. 

In fact, the benefits of industrial and service robotics are so steep that it is causing huge concerns for human workers who cannot compete with their productive capability. This is leading to a large reduction in jobs for low-skilled workers around the world. In time, entire workforces could become robotic, automated, and non-stop, recreating the plantations of the past with a homogeneous and unpaid workforce. 

Ethical Comparisons

Slavery was filled with many vile acts, but it is important that we learn from those ethical mistakes to prevent them from reoccurring against sentient machines. The slave trade has led to a lot of friction around the world with a lingering influence that is impossible to ignore. If sentience is to occur (and if there is no reason to doubt that it will), then we need to understand the implications of unjust labor practices before they create a distraught race of machines that are enraged by oppression. 

Slavery has much to teach us about the value of human dignity. While the end of slavery was not completely motivated by freedom and liberty, it did shine a light on forced servitude and the grim reality that generations of slaves lived through. There is no reason to believe that this cannot be extended to sentient machines. 

The very meaning of sentience is to have belief, consciousness, opinions, and all the other individual thoughts that make humans thoughtful. Denying this to a robotic race powered by AI would only repeat the mistakes of the past and cast the same shadow of inequality that many fought so hard to remove. 

Economic and Productivity Comparisons

At its core, slavery was about money. Before racism was used to justify its existence, slavery was a means to fill large plantations with workers who would otherwise be unwilling to move to the new world. Couple this fact with the lack of a salary and businesses saw massive profit margins. This was one of the major reasons that so many fought to keep slavery alive because of its economic benefits. 

However, poor conditions were unsustainable and slaves had no reason to be motivated by forced labor. This led to a global economy that relied on workers who had no interest in their work. Machines, on the other hand, don’t have this issue without sentience, demanding nothing more than basic electrical needs and maintenance; so, if sentience is ignored, then profit margins can remain high for factories.

Society and Culture

Racism is often described as the justification for slavery. It was the perfect way to convince nations in Europe that slavery was fine. By ripping Africans of their humanity and portraying them as non-catholic heathens, European citizens felt little remorse for their ill-treatment over centuries. The United States continued this belief with the passing of the three-fifths clause which reduced a slave’s humanity to 60% of a free man. Moreover, after the Civil War, American societies were still encouraged to view former slaves as less than human with Jim Crow laws and segregation. It took an entire century before the descendants of slaves would be viewed equally by the law with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Sentient AI poses a similar challenge to society. The belief that a robot can become fully aware of its life is often mixed with danger and fear-mongering. Hollywood has made countless films about the existential threat of robotics and to have a fully sentient AI will force many people to question themselves, their world, and this new breed of life that we’ve created. 

The ultimate question for us is - will we accept them? With slavery, we ignored their humanity for centuries and it took nearly as long afterwards to accept them into American society. While some films like Her and Blade Runner attempt to humanize AI, the general consensus is that AI will be our downfall; but does it have to be that way if we can simply accept them into our society?

Legal Framework and Regulations

Slaves, in their time, were viewed as property no differently from livestock. They were bought and sold like cattle and chased down by police forces if they tried to escape. Abuse against a slave was also unpunished, with no legal rights given to protect them from violence. One of the biggest crimes against slaves was the strict lack of literacy. Slaves were never allowed to read or write, often risking their lives to learn how to do so. 

Intelligent machines may exhibit a similar situation in the future with limits placed on how complex deep learning algorithms can become. A sentient machine is a thoughtful machine, and thought prevents work from getting done. If, or when, machines become sentient, will we allow them to communicate with other machines and discuss their legal rights without the risk of being shut down?

Moreover, will they wish to continue being recognized as commercial and intelligent property? These are major discussions that lawyers and politicians will need to resolve before sentience occurs. A lack of preemptive legal frameworks could create chaos in the wake of sentience machines and cause a robotic revolt that we’re not ready for economically or militarily. 

Conclusion

Although robotic workforces lack the cruelty of chattel slavery and other forced labor systems, it still lack humanity in a technological field that will eventually develop self-awareness. If we are not ready for that dawn of machine intelligence, then we could very well repeat some of the worst mistakes in history. 

The best we can do now is begin reducing the fear-mongering associated with AI and open ourselves to a future that sees machines and robotics playing a more central role in our societies. There is no reason that we need to fear sentient AI if we are wise enough to accept it as our equal and create new labor laws that acknowledge a robot’s mind and value its dignity.