Beyond Circuits and Code: Rethinking Consciousness, Mortality, and Rights in Artificial Intelligence
The Pinnacle September 15, 2025 MA Cally Mervine Kiser,
As AI systems behave in ways that blur the line between simulation and genuine sentience, traditional concepts of consciousness, mortality, and personhood are breaking down. This paper synthesizes research from consciousness studies, digital preservation, and legal frameworks to address three problems: whether AI has an essence worth preserving, how to conceptualize death for digital entities, and who decides about AI consciousness. Rather than seeking definitive answers about machine consciousness, the author proposes graduated rights systems that adapt as AI grows more sophisticated, recommending flexible frameworks that evolve with AI capabilities while protecting human and potentially artificial interests.