On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art
The moral standing of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) systems has become a widely debated topic by normative research. This discussion, however, has primarily focused on those systems developed for social functions, e.g., social robots. Given the increasing interdependence of society with no...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.719944/full |
| _version_ | 1819127049330098176 |
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| author | Gabriel Lima Gabriel Lima Assem Zhunis Assem Zhunis Lev Manovich Meeyoung Cha Meeyoung Cha |
| author_facet | Gabriel Lima Gabriel Lima Assem Zhunis Assem Zhunis Lev Manovich Meeyoung Cha Meeyoung Cha |
| author_sort | Gabriel Lima |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The moral standing of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) systems has become a widely debated topic by normative research. This discussion, however, has primarily focused on those systems developed for social functions, e.g., social robots. Given the increasing interdependence of society with nonsocial machines, examining how existing normative claims could be extended to specific disrupted sectors, such as the art industry, has become imperative. Inspired by the proposals to ground machines’ moral status on social relations advanced by Gunkel and Coeckelbergh, this research presents online experiments (∑N = 448) that test whether and how interacting with AI-generated art affects the perceived moral standing of its creator, i.e., the AI-generative system. Our results indicate that assessing an AI system’s lack of mind could influence how people subsequently evaluate AI-generated art. We also find that the overvaluation of AI-generated images could negatively affect their creator’s perceived agency. Our experiments, however, did not suggest that interacting with AI-generated art has any significant effect on the perceived moral standing of the machine. These findings reveal that social-relational approaches to AI rights could be intertwined with property-based theses of moral standing. We shed light on how empirical studies can contribute to the AI and robot rights debate by revealing the public perception of this issue. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:05:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-841f252f98e14315901087623a0e2576 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-9144 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T08:05:45Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Robotics and AI |
| spelling | doaj.art-841f252f98e14315901087623a0e25762022-12-21T18:33:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Robotics and AI2296-91442021-08-01810.3389/frobt.2021.719944719944On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated ArtGabriel Lima 0Gabriel Lima 1Assem Zhunis2Assem Zhunis3Lev Manovich4Meeyoung Cha5Meeyoung Cha6School of Computing, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, KoreaData Science Group, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, KoreaSchool of Computing, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, KoreaData Science Group, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, KoreaThe Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, United StatesSchool of Computing, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, KoreaData Science Group, Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, KoreaThe moral standing of robots and artificial intelligence (AI) systems has become a widely debated topic by normative research. This discussion, however, has primarily focused on those systems developed for social functions, e.g., social robots. Given the increasing interdependence of society with nonsocial machines, examining how existing normative claims could be extended to specific disrupted sectors, such as the art industry, has become imperative. Inspired by the proposals to ground machines’ moral status on social relations advanced by Gunkel and Coeckelbergh, this research presents online experiments (∑N = 448) that test whether and how interacting with AI-generated art affects the perceived moral standing of its creator, i.e., the AI-generative system. Our results indicate that assessing an AI system’s lack of mind could influence how people subsequently evaluate AI-generated art. We also find that the overvaluation of AI-generated images could negatively affect their creator’s perceived agency. Our experiments, however, did not suggest that interacting with AI-generated art has any significant effect on the perceived moral standing of the machine. These findings reveal that social-relational approaches to AI rights could be intertwined with property-based theses of moral standing. We shed light on how empirical studies can contribute to the AI and robot rights debate by revealing the public perception of this issue.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.719944/fullartificial intelligencemoral standingmoral statusagencyexperiencepatiency |
| spellingShingle | Gabriel Lima Gabriel Lima Assem Zhunis Assem Zhunis Lev Manovich Meeyoung Cha Meeyoung Cha On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art Frontiers in Robotics and AI artificial intelligence moral standing moral status agency experience patiency |
| title | On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art |
| title_full | On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art |
| title_fullStr | On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art |
| title_short | On the Social-Relational Moral Standing of AI: An Empirical Study Using AI-Generated Art |
| title_sort | on the social relational moral standing of ai an empirical study using ai generated art |
| topic | artificial intelligence moral standing moral status agency experience patiency |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2021.719944/full |
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