The deception risks and ethical regulation of social robots in medical companionship application
10.12026/j.issn.1001-8565.2025.09.12
- VernacularTitle:社交机器人在医疗陪护应用中的欺骗风险与伦理规制
- Author:
Wei LI
1
;
Jiarui WANG
2
;
Xinfang CHEN
3
Author Information
1. School of Marxism， Shanghai University of Sport， Shanghai 200438， China
2. School of Marxism， Shanghai University of Finance and Economics， Shanghai 200433， China
3. School of Humanities， Shanghai University of Finance and Economics， Shanghai 200433， China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
social robot;
medical companionship;
deception risk;
ethical regulation
- From:
Chinese Medical Ethics
2025;38(9):1177-1183
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Social robots play an important role in the field of medical companionship， providing services such as companion communication， drug monitoring， and rehabilitation guidance for the elderly and other subjects. However， social robots also pose the risk of deceiving medical users. Although certain forms of social robots’ deception can be used for therapeutic purposes， unethical deception can have adverse consequences for patients， doctors， and even society. These risks include causing patients to develop attachment disorders， violating their privacy， endangering their health， and even undermining the credibility of the healthcare system. Faced with the deception problem of social robots， starting from relational theory， medical artificial intelligence developers can conduct ethical regulation from the following two paths. First， social robots should be ethically programmed， including embedding programs for limiting benevolent lies， implementing informed consent principles， and ensuring information accuracy. Second， the deceptive behaviors of social robots should be controlled， requiring developers to take full-process supervision responsibility， design medical social robots that can supervise each other， and participate in formulating quality standards and evidence mechanisms for deception issues.
