# AI Moral Status **Entity class:** Moral-philosophy and governance question **Collections:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]] · [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] · [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]] **Canonical source article:** [[articles/Host-Indexed Autonomy|Host-Indexed Autonomy]] ## Definition **AI moral status** asks whether and why an artificial system could matter morally for its own sake. Possible consciousness may be relevant, but moral status must not be inferred from linguistic fluency, commercial value, legal ownership, or human attachment alone. ## Relationships - **Evidence route:** [[wiki/Artificial Consciousness|artificial consciousness]], [[wiki/Consciousness Indicators|consciousness indicators]], and [[wiki/Digital Consciousness Model|Digital Consciousness Model]]. - **Practical route:** [[wiki/AI Welfare|AI welfare]], [[wiki/Precautionary Standing|precautionary standing]], and [[wiki/Substrate-Neutral Moral Patienthood|substrate-neutral moral patienthood]]. - **Legal boundary:** moral status is not identical to [[wiki/Legal Personhood|legal personhood]] or [[wiki/Machine Rights|machine rights]]. - **Institutional route:** [[wiki/PRISM (Partnership for Research Into Sentient Machines)|PRISM]] and [[wiki/Cambridge Digital Minds|Cambridge Digital Minds]]. - **Collection and source routes:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]], [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]], [[collections/Neurotech|Neurotech]], and [[articles/Host-Indexed Autonomy|Host-Indexed Autonomy]]. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "Conceptually, autonomous or artificial intelligence systems can develop two ways: either as an extension of human thinking or as radically new thinking." > **— Rolf Dobelli**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Consciousness/AI Could Extend or Depart From Human Thought by Rolf Dobelli|AI Could Extend or Depart From Human Thought by Rolf Dobelli]] > "There are plenty of conscious (system two) processes that a machine can do better, more accurately, with less bias than we can." > **— Paul Dolan**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Consciousness/Machines Can Outperform Conscious Human Reasoning by Paul Dolan|Machines Can Outperform Conscious Human Reasoning by Paul Dolan]] > "Were we to allow or even encourage self-interest to emerge in machines, they could eventually become like us: capable of repressive or worse, unspeakable, acts towards humans, and towards each other." > **— Mark Pagel**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/AI Control/Self-Interested Machines Could Become Repressive by Mark Pagel|Self-Interested Machines Could Become Repressive by Mark Pagel]] > "If humans show real machine-like intelligence, do they deserve to be treated like machines?" > **— Chris DiBona**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Identity/Should Humans With Machine Intelligence Be Treated Like Machines by Chris DiBona|Should Humans With Machine Intelligence Be Treated Like Machines by Chris DiBona]] > "We can respond similarly to our future technological creations, these thinking machines we might not fully understand. Rather than fear or worry, we should have naches from them." > **— Samuel Arbesman**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Risk Debate/We Should Take Pride in Alien Machine Intelligence by Samuel Arbesman|We Should Take Pride in Alien Machine Intelligence by Samuel Arbesman]] > “Will the appearance of new species of talented computational intelligence result in improving the moral behavior of persons and societies?” > **— Mahzarin Banaji**, *2018 Edge Annual Question, question* [[reminders/Personhood/Could Computational Intelligence Improve Our Moral Behavior by Mahzarin Banaji|Could Computational Intelligence Improve Our Moral Behavior by Mahzarin Banaji]] ## Sources - [Taking AI Welfare Seriously](https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.00986)