When people start to attribute human characteristics to robots and start asking these questions, The discussion must go beyond the scientific and include the philosophical. I have many thoughts on the subject. But, my experience is that scientists don't really like philosophy.

Instead of writing a lengthy paper on the subject, I think I'll just keep my thoughts to myself until the time is right (when I know for sure that I have an interested audience ready to listen). I don't want to talk to an audience of none.

We need to hear Your opinion in my view this is Scary stuff !!!!

1) Is it possible for a robot to be programmed to be racist? Of course it is. But, just like people, it might not be the same stereotypical flavor of it that others are used to. But more insidious than that, the threat of being prejudiced is a bigger problem. Prejudism is not limited to racism and is harder to address in a pre-programmed "thinking-machine". Also, a pre-programmed "thinking-machine" is less likely to recognize/acknowledge its own faults and is less likely to fix itself. Therefore, the ability to be self-governing is severely lower than humans to be self-governing (as problematic as that is).

2) Is a robot capable of sexually harassing co-workers (both human and other robots)? Of course it is. It's all in the programming. The only real difference would be the motivation/reward behind the behavior. And, that's linked closer to a subjective Consciousness than an objective Science.

3) Will humans discriminate against their robot coworkers? Of course they will. Humans will never see robots as being in the same category/class as themselves. And the only way that will manifest itself, is by the ability to discriminate between the two different discreet categories/classes regardless of any similarities. It might even be programmed into the robots, too, to ensure they don't stray outside their category/class.

4) Will violence and discrimination against robots in the workplace be tolerated? Of course it will. No matter how competent/skilled/benevolent/reliable/perfect a robot is, humans will never allow robots to usurp the right to be human from humans.

5) Will robots receive compensation for their work? Only in the form of maintenance, rent, and resale value, etc. Anything that humans value will receive "compensation"/care according to that value. Sometimes humans won't even value other humans as much as their favorite robots.

6) Are robots capable of discriminating against other robots? Of course. "Discrimination" is really a very broad term, and can be good as well as bad. In fact it could even be necessary. Strictly speaking, "discrimination" is the ability/act of distinguishing the differences between two or more things/entities being considered. This term got its bad connotation thru humans' misuse of its application. Misapplied discrimination is what gets us/robots into trouble.

7) Will robots receive union protections or health and vacation benefits? That depends on how/who defines it. See item #5. Humans will value robots and grant them limited "rights" to "self-diagnosis" and to repair/downtime/"benefits" in order to protect their continuing value to humans. It could appear to be unionized thru any statistical consensus generated by robots/AI. But, humans (in general, even if there might be some exceptions) will never abdicate their authority over them by granting them the right to total self-governance. Robots are made for man, not Man for robots.

8) Who is responsible if a robot harms a customer or coworker? That will have to be determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on how obvious the facts/policies are. But, I wouldn't be surprised to see some complicated cases that will end up in court.

9) If a robot invents or improves upon a product or service in the workplace, will it own the intellectual property of that invention or improvement? That depends on the End User License Agreements and Terms Of Use and who really owns the robot, or which parts of it. Going by the universal trend of always licensing and not selling computing products, I'd guess that everything will end up being owned by the Big Tech Companies, regardless of the origin of ideas/improvements, including old patents. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Nothing new here.

We don't need no Damn robots capable of human thought?? and relating issues !!!

The answers to questions haven't been established yet...

It will take time to make this technology right. There's nothing new about that. In the meantime, I'll be spending time on these shows https://best-vegas.com/las-vegas-concerts/ , and there's no one who can stop me from doing it. About tesla - there were problems with cars as well at the 50's and 60's, so we need to wait a bit.

Why the unthinking race to displace people from every workplace as a matter of course?

I appreciate the appeal of solving engineering challenges but engineering should ultimately serve human society well.

BTW, what replaces the lost income taxes from displaced workers, i.e. the cash that funds civil society?....perhaps a tax on every robot owned by a company?

It’s solving a self-inflicted social engineering issues that was brought on by majority of people making that made poor life’s decisions. And thing wanting their poor decisions early in life/career to make it others responsibility.

Making yet another poor decision for higher wages for a unskilled labor that was originally meant for ones first job and not a career.... creating a form synergy for automation.