Definition
Plain language
Whether something counts as deserving moral consideration in its own right.
As stated in the literature
The question of whether a system's interests generate obligations; in AI welfare research it is treated as unresolved, with experiments justified on precautionary grounds rather than settled attributions.
Why it matters: Whether AI systems have moral status determines whether experiments on them need ethical limits at all, and treating the question as open is what justifies cautious methods now.
For example, we treat a dog as having moral status when we say kicking it is wrong because of what the dog experiences, not just because it upsets the owner.
Heard on the show
“And that distinction has practical consequences: you can justify better experiments without deciding in advance what moral status the subject has.”Episode 267 — A Pain Axis, a Relief Button, and the Control the Paper Skipped