The topic of AI welfare is fast becoming mainstream. As I wrote in my last post, there’s an emerging debate that has been drawing some strong reactions. There is some resistance to even treating AI welfare as a legitimate concern. But there’s a perhaps more understandable resistance—not to taking AI welfare seriously in general, but to particular ways of doing so. Many may accept that we should grant some concern to AI welfare, but hold that granting rights to current or near-future AI systems is a bridge too far.
(“AI systems” here should be understood broadly, not limited to particular architectures, such as current digital systems). [...]
