Taylor Olson
Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Iowa
| | CV | taylorolson50 (at) yahoo
Northwestern University
PhD, Computer Science (AI & Cognitive Science)
MS, Computer Science
University of Northern Iowa
BS, Computer Science
BA, Mathematics
Minor, Philosophy
Theoretical Machine Ethics
Trying to figure out WTH morality is and how to make moral AI systems (Artificial Moral Agents, or AMAs).
Doing so mathematically:
- Formalizing moral and epistemological theories;
- Building formalisms for learning normative concepts;
- Extending deontic, temporal, action, etc. logics.
My dissertation A Formal Theory of Norms presented a mathematical formalism modeling the ability to learn and adapt to the norms of a population while staying grounded in moral principles. In other words... it does as the Romans believe it should do, unless (for example) the Romans believe it should slaughter babies.You can find the thesis here.
This work was done under advisement of Ken Forbus at Northwestern University and committee members Kyla Ebels-Duggan (Philosophy, Northwestern University), Ian Horswill (Computer Science, Northwestern University), Francesca Rossi (AI Ethics Global Leader, IBM).