Artificial Minds, Human Disagreement: The Political Challenge of AI Consciousness

Future disagreement about whether any AI systems are conscious could be both deep and difficult to resolve. For example, some people might develop emotional bonds with AI and ascribe consciousness as a result, while others might see the whole idea as absurd. The resulting disagreement about consciousness could lead to moral and political disagreement about how we should interact with AI systems. Against this backdrop it is important to ask: what would it mean for society to navigate this kind of disagreement well? In this paper, we argue that ongoing societal deliberation must play a central role. Through deliberation it may be possible to discover or construct forms of overlapping consensus, where people agree on certain policies for AI systems, even though they continue to disagree about more fundamental questions involving AI consciousness. It may also be possible to reach compromises that leave no party empty handed. Taken together, these mechanisms can help us avoid situations in which moral disagreement leads to conflict or quiescence. Unfortunately, despite its virtues, deliberation can be slow and difficult to sustain in practice. To support this process, we explore the importance of “democratic hope” and mutual respect, as elements of a dialogue that can support positive outcomes.