AI Personhood

A structured process to build consensus on the criteria and indicators for AI personhood under the law.

Project Details

This project will create a structured series of events to bring together leading philosophers, legal scholars, computer scientists and neuroscientists to examine one of the most pressing questions of our time: What, if any, are the capacities AI systems must have to be persons under the law? What are the indicators for these capacities? Criteria for personhood may include consciousness, agency, autonomy, persistent identity and moral alignment, however defined and measured. The project will address related questions such as: is corporate personhood a legal precedent for natural AI personhood? What of liability and rights attribution, or fiduciary duties toward AI systems? What are the policy implications of granting or withholding legal standing? Models for this process are the Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, which brought technical experts from around the world to advise on a treaty to regulate plastic pollution, and the Ad Hoc Committee on Refugees and Stateless Persons, which developed the 1951 Refugee Convention. This project will be designed for a quick handoff to the United Nations or other official, international body, once the international community is ready. It is hoped that by starting this process now, time will be saved once the official process is convened. It will also serve to raise awareness of the need for an official, state-sanctioned process.

Theory of Impact

AI personhood would not only address the moral status of AI systems, but help to integrate them into our existing legal system, supporting alignment by promoting human-AI cooperation and by promoting human values like promise-keeping, as well as building goodwill with advanced AI systems. It will create a structured process through which AI systems can eventually contribute to their own development and integration in a positive way.

People

Heather Alexander

Team Member

Grants Received– no grants recorded

Add grant

Funding Asks

grantmaking.ai Launch Round

Applied

Minimum

$10,000

Ideal

$100,000

How the money will be spent

The money will be spent to cover the costs of organizing a series of events to bring together leading experts working on AI welfare, safety, alignment and capacities, along with legal and technical experts on personhood law, as well as producing publications and recommendations for governments. The goals is to build a coalition of partners working to build consensus across fields and develop a definition of AI personhood and a list of indicators to measure AI progress towards this definition. The process will be accompanied by public outreach materials and government advocacy. The process will begin with 2 technical workshops a year, accompanied by a repository for research and advocacy materials. 100k will fund 2-3 years of workshops and materials, with the hope that this process can then be handed off to an intergovernmental organization.

Discussion

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.