Norm Deviation in Multiagent Systems: A Foundation for Responsible Autonomy

The power of norms in both human societies and sociotechnical systems arises from the facts that (1) societal norms, including laws and policies, characterize acceptable behavior in high-level terms and (2) they are not hard controls and can be deviated from. Thus, the design of responsibly autonomous agents faces an essential tension: these agents must both (1) respect applicable norms and (2) deviate from those norms when blindly following them may lead to diminished outcomes. We propose a conceptual foundation for norm deviation. As a guiding framework, we adopt Habermas's theory of communicative action comprising objective, subjective, and practical validity claims regarding the suitability of deviation. Our analysis thus goes beyond previous studies of norm deviation and yields reasoning guidelines uniting norms and values by which to develop responsible agents.