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Artificial Intelligence Systems, Responsibility and Agential Self-Awareness

Farina, Lydia

Authors

LYDIA FARINA LYDIA.FARINA@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Assistant Professor in Philosophy



Contributors

Vincent C Müller
Editor

Abstract

This paper investigates the claim that artificial Intelligence Systems cannot be held morally responsible because they do not have an ability for agential self-awareness e.g. they cannot be aware that they are the agents of an action. The main suggestion is that if agential self-awareness and related first person representations presuppose an awareness of a self, the possibility of responsible artificial intelligence systems cannot be evaluated independently of research conducted on the nature of the self. Focusing on a specific account of the self from the phenomenological tradition, this paper suggests that a minimal necessary condition that artificial intelligence systems must satisfy so that they have a capability for self-awareness, is having a minimal self defined as ‘a sense of ownership’. As this sense of ownership is usually associated with having a living body, one suggestion is that artificial intelligence systems must have similar living bodies so they can have a sense of self. Discussing cases of robotic animals as examples of the possibility of artificial intelligence systems having a sense of self, the paper concludes that the possibility of artificial intelligence systems having a ‘sense of ownership’ or a sense of self may be a necessary condition for having responsibility.

Citation

Farina, L. (2022). Artificial Intelligence Systems, Responsibility and Agential Self-Awareness. In V. C. Müller (Ed.), Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence 2021 (15-25). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09153-7_2

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (Published)
Conference Name PT-AI 2021
Start Date Sep 27, 2021
End Date Sep 28, 2021
Acceptance Date Aug 15, 2022
Online Publication Date Nov 15, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Oct 25, 2023
Publisher Springer Nature
Pages 15-25
Series Title Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics
Series Number 63
Series ISSN 2192-6255
Book Title Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence 2021
ISBN 9783031091520
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09153-7_2
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/14033469
Publisher URL https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-09153-7_2
Additional Information First Online: 15 November 2022; Conference Acronym: PTAI; Conference Name: Conference on Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence; Conference City: Gothenburg; Conference Country: Sweden; Conference Year: 2021; Conference Start Date: 27 September 2021; Conference End Date: 28 September 2021; Conference Number: 4; Conference ID: ptai2021; Conference URL: https://www.pt-ai.org/2021