Moral consideration of nonhumans in the ethics of artificial intelligence

Abstract

This paper argues that the field of artificial intelligence (AI) ethics needs to give more attention to the values and interests of nonhumans such as other biological species and the AI itself. It documents the extent of current attention to nonhumans in AI ethics as found in academic research, statements of ethics principles, and select projects to design, build, apply, and govern AI. It finds that the field of AI ethics gives limited and inconsistent attention to nonhumans, with the main activity being a line of research on the moral status of AI. The paper argues that nonhumans merit moral consideration, meaning that they should be actively valued for their own sake and not ignored or valued just for how they might benefit humans. Finally, it explains implications of moral consideration of nonhumans for AI ethics research and practice, including for the content of AI ethics principles, the selection of AI projects, the accounting of inadvertent effects of AI systems such as via their resource and energy consumption and potentially certain algorithmic biases, and the research challenge of incorporating nonhuman interests and values into AI system design. The paper does not take positions on which nonhumans to morally consider or how to balance the interests and values of humans vs. nonhumans. Instead, the paper makes the more basic argument that the field of AI ethics should move from its current state of affairs, in which nonhumans are usually ignored, to a state in which nonhumans are given more consistent and extensive moral consideration.