How can robots be designed to advance the prospects for obtaining justice? While a considerable body of literature focuses on the ethics and rights implications of artificial intelligence (AI), surprisingly less energy has been dedicated to understanding the conditions under which emerging technologies can contribute to the pursuit of justice. In addition, much of the relevant scholarly discourse has examined key moral and ethical issues from an almost exclusively anthropocentric perspective. Meanwhile, the onset of the Anthropocene has animated concerns about the implications of human-centered thinking, although this conversation has scarcely influenced the tenor of debates in AI ethics. This talk seeks to overcome these gaps and missed opportunities for dialogue by exploring theories of justice that include the more-than-human world, be it natural or technological. The goal is to prescribe ways in which design can promote justice for all the Earth’s inhabitants and contribute to a more ethical future.

1. Designing Robots for More-than-
Human Justice
Josh Gellers, PhD, LEED Green Associate
University of North Florida
Image: DALL-E

2. Premises Conclusions
Robots are increasingly found in social spaces and the
environment (Donhauser 2019).
Human/nature and nature/culture binaries are no longer
tenable in the Anthropocene (Biermann 2020; Hoły-
Łuczaj and Blok 2022).
Technology is part of and constitutes the environment
(Hui 2020).
AI ethics has neglected the impact of AI on non-humans
(Singer and Tse 2022), lacks a theory of justice (Gabriel
2022).
Human-centered design is ethically and environmentally
problematic (Chan 2018; Forlano 2017).
We need a theory of justice that
accommodates technological entities and
the ecological systems in which they are
embedded.
Robots should be designed to contribute to
the pursuit of more-than-human justice.

3. Design Questions
1) Who or what— human/nonhuman, human/animal,
individual/organizational/network —are the user(s), and for whom or what should
the design be desirable?
2) How, and in what ways—competitively/collaboratively,
hierarchically/horizontally—are capabilities, agency, and power distributed across
human, machines, and natural systems?
3) What new knowledge(s), questions, stakeholders, and partnerships are needed in
order to adequately design for this problem?
4) How are ethics, values, and responsibilities reflected and embedded throughout
the design process?
(Forlano 2017: 19)

4. Justice Questions
1) Who are the subjects?
2) What is considered a “just” outcome?
3) How will justice be achieved?
(Biermann and Kalfagianni 2020; Pope et al 2021)
Image: MidJourney

5. Design Justice
“Design justice is a framework for analysis of how design distributes
benefits and burdens between various groups of people. Design justice
focuses explicitly on the ways that design reproduces and/or challenges
the matrix of domination (white supremacy, heteropatriarchy,
capitalism, ableism, settler colonialism, and other forms of structural
inequality). Design justice is also a growing community of practice that
aims to ensure a more equitable distribution of design’s benefits and
burdens; meaningful participation in design decisions; and recognition
of community- based, Indigenous, and diasporic design traditions,
knowledge, and practices” (Costanza-Chock 2020: 23).

6. Comparing Approaches to More-than-Human Justice
Who What How
Multispecies
Justice
Individual entities and whole
species or ecosystems and
relationships between them
Inclusive, inter-acting,
functioning, and flourishing
environments
Communicative modalities,
humans as diplomats,
(re)designing institutions
Planetary
Justice
Humans OR humans, non-
human animals, and nature
Securing the integrity of the
planetary system for
humans (esp. poor) OR
humans, future
generations, and more-
than-human world
Pro-poor policies, Indigenous
innovations, strengthening
people’s basic capabilities OR
political rights for the more-than-
human world, incorporating future
generations into decision-making
Socio-ecological
Justice
Humans and non-humans
(all-subjected principle)
Preserving and promoting
basic capabilities for full
functioning
Bidirectional communicative
process, fair procedures, a
representative structure, and
empowerment

7. Design Principles for More-than-Human Justice
Avoid harm to the integrity, stability, and dignity of entities and systems
Consider context (social, environmental, technical, cultural) where deployed
Design to augment human and non-human capabilities to achieve flourishing
Evaluate how affordances/disaffordances affect different parties
Use participatory design to include diverse users and stakeholders
Utilize intersectional benchmarks during testing

8. Design Contexts

9. Case Study:
Personal
Delivery
Device
MtHJ Design Considerations
- Participatory design with human
& non-human stakeholders
- Sustainable materials
- Renewable power source
- Animal avoidant computer vision
- Communicates presence to
nearby animals
- Signals proximity to visually
impaired pedestrians
- Conveys damage to environment
and infrastructure to authorities
- Double cycling cargo

10. Thank you! Questions?
Image: DALL-E
Contact:
(e) josh.gellers@unf.edu
(t) @JoshGellers
(w) JoshGellers.com