What responsibility gaps are and what they should be

Abstract

Responsibility gaps traditionally refer to scenarios in which no one is responsible for harm caused by artificial agents, such as autonomous machines or collective agents. By carefully examining the different ways this concept has been defined in the social ontology and ethics of technology literature, I argue that our current concept of responsibility gaps is defective. To address this conceptual flaw, I argue that the concept of responsibility gaps should be revised by distinguishing it into two more precise concepts: epistemic responsibility gaps (ERG) and control misalignments (CM). ERG functions as a refined version addressing specific aspects of responsibility attribution. It captures the challenge of identifying who is to blame. CM, on the other hand, introduces a new dimension by focusing on misalignments of control. These revisions offer better guidelines for the development and oversight of artificial agents, both in terms of assigning blame and ensuring the right distribution of control.