The Ethics of Responsibility in the Context of the Use of Intelligent Machines and the Problem of the Technosystem
Abstract
This article is devoted to the problem of responsibility as it arises in the context of the technosystem—where the latter is enhanced by the work of intelligent devices. In this case, the system in question refers to the relationship between man, functioning in the various roles of creator, trainer, owner and user of intelligent agents, and machines equipped with artificial intelligence. Suppose we assume that the aim of technological development is the well‑being of the human being living now and the human being of the future. In that case, attention must be focused on the value of responsibility. The system of technology is embedded in a cultural and social context. The author diagnoses the causes of the disap‑ pearance of responsibility (the adjacency of actions) in the context of using smart devices, and considers what should be done to counteract this. The background for the analyses undertaken is furnished by ecosystem theory, together with the related concept of instrumentalization as construed by Andrew Feinberg, and Hans Jonas’ ethical theory of responsibility—considered as they relate to the analysis of selected cases.
References
Alowais, Shuroug A., Sahar S. Alghamdi, Nada Alsuhebany, Tariq Alqahtani, Abdulrahman I. Alshaya, Sumaya N. Almohareb, Atheer Aldairem, Mohammed Alrashed, Khalid Bin Saleh, Hisham A. Badreldin, Majed S. Al Yami, Shmeylan Al Harbi, and Abdulkareem M. Albekairy. 2023. “Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Practice.” BMC Medical Education 23 (689): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04698-z.
Arendt, Hannah. 2003. Responsibility and Judgment. Edited and with an introduction by Jerome Kohn. New York: Schocken Books.
Asimov, Isaac. 1950. I, Robot. New York: Doubleday.
Bauman, Zygmunt. 1991. Modernity and the Holocaust. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Boden, Margaret A. 2018. Artificial Intelligence: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bostrom, Nick. 2014. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brigadier General YS. 2021. The Human-Machine Team: How to Create Synergy between Human and Artificial Intelligence That Will Revolutionize Our World. Self-published.
Coeckelbergh, Mark. 2020. AI Ethics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Dehaene, Stanislas. 2014. Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts. London: Penguin Books.
Dusek, Val. 2006. Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Ellul, Jacques. 1980. The Technological System. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel. New York: Continuum Publishing.
Feenberg, Andrew. 2006. “What Is Philosophy of Technology?” In Defining Technological Literacy, edited by John R. Dakers, 5–16. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Feenberg, Andrew. 2009. “Critical Theory of Technology.” In A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology, edited by Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen, Stig Andur Pedersen, and Vincent F. Hendricks, 146–153. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Feenberg, Andrew. 2017. Technosystem: The Social Life of Reason. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Fleischer, Michael. 2010. “Wartości w wymiarze komunikacyjnym.” In Teorie komunikacji i mediów, vol. 2, edited by Marek Graszewicz and Jerzy Jastrzębski, 9–54. Wrocław: Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT.
Floridi, Luciano, and J. W. Sanders. 2004. “On the Morality of Artificial Agents.” Minds and Machines 14 (3): 349–379. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:MIND.0000035461.63578.9d.
Floridi, Luciano. 2023. The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Principles, Challenges, and Opportunities. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fry, Hannah. 2018. Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine. London: Doubleday.
Glaser, Horst Albert, and Sabine Rossbach. 2011. The Artificial Human. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Heidegger, Martin. 1977. The Question Concerning Technology, and Other Essays. Translated by William Lovitt. New York: Garland Publishing.
Jackson, Peter. 1998. Introduction to Expert Systems. 3rd ed. Boston: Addison-Wesley.
Jonas, Hans. 1984. The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Konotos, John. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence, Machine Consciousness and Explanation.” Academia Letters, Article 1709. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1709.
Krzykawski, Michał K. 2023. “Krytyka w technopresji.” Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne 20 (2): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.31261/SSP.2022.20.09.
Lin, Patrick, Keith Abney, and Ryan Jenkins, eds. 2017. Robot Ethics 2.0: From Autonomous Cars to Artificial Intelligence. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lizut, Rafał. 2014. Technika a wartości: Spór o aksjologiczną neutralność artefaktów. Lublin: Wydawnictwo Academicon.
Minsky, Marvin. 2007. The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Norman, Donald A. 2023. Design for a Better World. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Peno, Michał. 2015. “Prawna odpowiedzialność z tytułu pełnienia roli społecznej.” Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Iuridica 74: 42–57. https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.74.04.
Przegalińska, Aleksandra, and Paweł Oksanowicz. 2023. Sztuczna inteligencja: Nieludzka, arcyludzka. Fenomen świata nowych technologii. Kraków: Znak.
Suchacka, Małgorzata, Rafał Muster, and Mariusz Wojewoda. 2021. “Human and Machine Creativity: Social and Ethical Aspects of the Development of Artificial Intelligence.” Creativity Studies 14 (2): 430–443. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2021.14316.
Wojewoda, Mariusz. 2022. “Autointerpretacja osoby i problem ‘mocnego wartościowania’ w filozofii Charlesa Taylora.” Analiza i Egzystencja 57: 71–90. https://doi.org/10.18276/aie.2022.57-04.
Wojewoda, Mariusz. 2023. “Artificial Intelligence as a Social Utopia.” Ethos 36 (3): 109–126. https://doi.org/10.12887/36-2023-3-143-08.
Yuval, Abraham. 2024. “System of Lavender.” +972 Magazine, April 3. https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza. Accessed October 17, 2025.
Copyright (c) 2025 Forum Philosophicum
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- When submitting a text, the author declares that he/she is the Author of the article (hereinafter referred to as the “Work”) and:
- he/she owns the exclusive and unlimited copyright to the Work,
- is entitled to dispose of the copyright to the Work.
Declares that it does not infringe any third party copyrights or legal rights.
Declares that there is no conflict of interest.
2. At the same time, the Author grants the Ignatianum University in Cracowa royalty-free, non-exclusive and territorially unlimited licence to use the Work in the following fields of exploitation:
- recording the Work in a hard copy, as well as on a digital or magnetic medium;
- reproduction of the Work using any technique, without limitation of the number of editions or copies;
- distribution of the Work and its copies on any medium, including marketing, sale, lending, and rental;
- introduction of the Work into a computer memory;
- disseminating the Work in information networks, including in the Internet;
- public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and re-broadcasting, as well as making the Work available to the public in such a way that everyone can have access to it at a time and place of their own choosing;
- within the scope of dependent rights to the Work, including in particular the right to make necessary changes to the Work resulting from editorial and methodical development, as well as to translate the Work into foreign languages;
The licence is granted from the moment of the transfer of the Work to the Ignatianum University in Cracow. The Ignatianum University in Cracow is entitled to grant further sub-licences to the Work within the scope of the right granted. The licence is time-limited and it is granted for a period of 15 years, starting from the date of its granting.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish their text online (e.g. in their institution’s repository or on the institution’s website) before or during the submission process as this may lead to beneficial exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published text (See The Effect of Open Access). We recommend using any of the following portals of research associations:
- ResearchGate
- SSRN
- Academia.edu
- Selected Works
- Academic Search
