Mustafa Suleyman warns against attributing consciousness and granting rights to AI models
Mustafa Suleyman warns that AI models should not be attributed consciousness, feelings or rights – doing so would, in his view, make AI safety and alignment more difficult.
In his piece titled “A warning about 'model welfare'”, Mustafa Suleyman warns that AI models should not be treated as if they had feelings, preferences, rights or an entitlement to care for their “welfare”. According to him, consciousness is the foundation of ethical, legal and political systems, and granting even a hint of such rights to another entity is not justified by the available evidence.
Suleyman further argues that attributing these characteristics to AI models would make the task of keeping them under control (containment) and aligning them (alignment) with human interests more difficult. The source provides only this quote without further context, such as when and on what occasion the statement was made.
Why it matters
The statement comes from an influential figure in the AI field and touches on the ongoing debate about so-called “model welfare” – whether and how the possible inner experiences of AI systems should be considered. The stance against granting rights or attributing consciousness to models has a practical impact on how companies and regulators will frame questions of AI safety and alignment, because attributing such characteristics would, according to Suleyman, complicate control over these systems.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For a business
The stance of a leading figure at Microsoft AI against attributing consciousness and granting rights to AI models could influence the direction of the debate on regulation and internal corporate policies concerning the treatment of AI systems.
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Event sources
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