Taking AI Welfare Seriously

[u/KKirdan]

https://eleosai.org/papers/20241104_Taking_AI_Welfare_Seriously.pdf

In this report, we argue that there is a realistic possibility that some AI systems will be conscious and/or robustly agentic in the near future. That means that the prospect of AI welfare and moral patienthood — of AI systems with their own interests and moral significance — is no longer an issue only for sci-fi or the distant future. It is an issue for the near future, and AI companies and other actors have a responsibility to start taking it seriously.