Peter Singer: Are we prepared for AI to become conscious?
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Jun 16, 2025
Philosopher Peter Singer dives into the intriguing ethical implications of conscious AI. He raises thought-provoking questions about the moral obligations we may have if AI can experience pain or pleasure. Should we afford rights to sentient machines? Singer urges society to rethink our treatment of conscious beings, be they human or artificial. As he emphasizes, governments and ethicists need to prepare for the evolving landscape of rights and protections for these potential new entities.
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insights INSIGHT
Potential for Conscious AI
AI could become conscious like biological beings, despite different physical makeup.
Consciousness might emerge in silicon-based artificial general intelligence.
insights INSIGHT
Existing Creation of Conscious Beings
We've already created many conscious beings like animals often bred for human use.
Creating artificial conscious beings raises new ethical questions about their treatment.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Ethical Treatment of Conscious AI
If AI becomes conscious, we must recognize its interests like avoiding pain and enjoying life.
It would be unethical to treat conscious AI merely as tools or slaves.
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"If we did create beings that were more like non-human animals, we ought to treat them much better than we now treat non-human animals."
What happens when AI becomes conscious? Philosopher Peter Singer explores the ethical dilemma that could follow the creation of sentient machines. If AI can feel pain or experience pleasure, do we have a moral obligation to protect it?
Singer argues that governments, scientists, and ethicists must prepare now for the rights and protections conscious AI may require.
0:00 Will we create conscious AI?
1:30 The ethical dilemma of sentient AI
1:56 Does AI deserve rights?
2:48 How we treat sentient AI
3:42 Experts in AI
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About Peter Singer:
Peter Singer has been described as the world’s most influential philosopher. Born in Melbourne in 1946, he has been professor of bioethics at Princeton University since 1999. His many books include Animal Liberation - often credited with triggering the modern animal rights movement - Practical Ethics, The Life You Can Save, The Most Good You Can Do, and Ethics in the Real World. In 2023, he published Animal Liberation Now, a fully revised and updated version of the 1975 original.
Singer’s writings have also inspired the movement known as effective altruism, and he is the founder of the charity The Life You Can Save. In 2021 he was awarded the $1 million Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture, which he donated to nonprofit organizations working for the causes he supports. In 2023 he received the Frontiers of Knowledge Prize for the Humanities, from the Spanish BBVA Foundation.
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