Leap of Faith

In search-and-rescue situations, an autonomous system (AS) may be tasked with conveying information or delivering instructions to people who have never encountered that system before. In such cases, the willingness to comply requires a “leap of faith”.  This project explores the conditions under which a human subject can be persuaded to take that leap, focusing in particular on three factors:

• the AS’s relatability,
• the degree to which its instructions can be verified as correct (guarantee),
• it’s level of authority – what the human believes to be the originator of the instructions (e.g., the police, the fire department, the AS’s own calculations).

This project is funded by the TAS Hub and led by King’s College London in collaboration with the University of Nottingham, York St John University, Thales UK, DSTL-MOD, the University of Southampton and the University of Leicester.

Project kick off video

Leap of Faith