Artificial Quasi Moral Agency
Abstract
My research explores interrelated theoretical and practical questions about artificial intelligence (AI) and moral decision-making by focusing on the concept of moral agency. I propose a distinction between quasi (non-sentient) moral agents and sentient moral agents, and I argue that the key features of moral agency are conceptually possible to instantiate without phenomenal consciousness. Next, I will situate AI within the conversation of moral agency, exploring whether AI does, or can, meet the criteria for quasi moral agency. In the future, I will look at the relationship between quasi moral agency and responsibility, how we ought to use AI in moral decision-making, and policy proposals for the development and use of artificial moral agents.
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Computer scientists are still a long way from developing AGI or AC, which would seem to be required for genuine moral agency.
“While computer scientists are making some progress on developing AI systems that have quasi-moral agency, that is, AI systems that can make decisions based on moral norms [71, 196, 203], they are still a long way from developing AGI or AC (see definitions of these terms in Sect. 2), which would seem to be required for genuine moral agency.”
From The ethics of using artificial intelligence in scientific research: new guidance needed for a new tool (2025) · cites this paper as [203]
Cites
On the Morality of Artificial Agents
Floridi, L., & Sanders, J. W. (2004) · Minds and Machines · doi:10.1023/b:mind.0000035461.63578.9d · Cited by 1,218 · see citing works
Standardizing Ethical Design for Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems
Bryson, J. J., & Winfield, A. F. T. (2017) · Computer · doi:10.1109/mc.2017.154 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
Himma, K. E. (2009) · Ethics and Information Technology · doi:10.1007/s10676-008-9167-5 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Rios-Campos, C., Tejada-Castro, M. I., Viteri, J. D. C. L., Zambrano, E. O. G., Núñez, J. B., & Vara, F. E. O. (2023) · SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-17040-9 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
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Resnik, D. B., & Hosseini, M. (2025) · AI and Ethics · doi:10.1007/s43681-024-00493-8 · Cited by 228 · see citing works
“While computer scientists are making some progress on developing AI systems that have quasi-moral agency, that is, AI systems that can make decisions based on moral norms [71, 196, 203], they are still a long way from developing AGI or AC (see definitions of these terms in Sect.”
- Authors
- Semler, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Semler, Jen
- ORCID
- Semler, Jen
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 2022 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2022-07-26
- Pages
- 913-913
- ISSN
- 3065-8365 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4288058258
- Cited by
- 2
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 0.50
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Proceedings of the AAAI/ACM Conference on AI Ethics and Society (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Literary and Philosophical Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophical Ethics and Theory
- Keywords
- moral agency, artificial intelligence, ethical decision-making, phenomenal consciousness, sentience, moral responsibility, artificial moral agents, AI ethics policy
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