Do Androids Dread an Electric Sting?
Izak Tait, Neşet Tan
Qeios June 14, 2023 DOI: 10.32388/cqctkx (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that conscious sentient AI is likely to arrive within five to fifty years and could experience suffering exceeding that of any living entity, so a protective legal framework is needed. Proposes drawing on animal welfare law and a meta-theory of consciousness to determine when AI reaches animal-level sentience and to ground legal protections. |
Abstract
Conscious sentient AI seems to be all but a certainty in our future, whether in fifty years’ time or only five years. When that time comes, we will be faced with entities with the potential to experience more pain and suffering than any other living entity on Earth. In this paper, we look at this potential for suffering and the reasons why we would need to create a framework for protecting artificial entities. We look to current animal welfare laws and regulations to investigate why certain animals are given legal protections, and how this can be applied to AI. We use a meta-theory of consciousness to determine what developments in AI technology are needed to bring AI to the level of animal sentience where legal arguments for their protection can be made. We finally speculate on what a future conscious AI could look like based on current technology.
Citations in the library
Cites 14
- Are There Levels of Consciousness? Trends in Cognitive Sciences April 22, 2016
- Animal sentience Philosophy Compass March 17, 2022
- Fish do not feel pain and its implications for understanding phenomenal consciousness. Biology & Philosophy 2015
- Degrees of consciousness Noûs August 4, 2022
- Four-Dimensional Graded Consciousness Frontiers in Psychology March 21, 2017
and 9 more in the library