1 | Term | Definition(s) | Benefits | Drawbacks | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | Agent | an interactive, autonomous, adaptable entity | - common usage in moral philosophy and moral psychology - clear pairing with “patient” - association with specific actions and intentions - applies to entities of any material composition | - moral consideration of agents not typically thought about - common usage includes multiple other associations (e.g., “government agent,” “publicity agent”) | Floridi & Sanders, 2004 |
3 | Being | - M-W: “the quality or state of having existence” - OL: “existence” | - accessible - is concrete and brings to mind a specific meaning - commonly paired with “human” and “living” - already used to describe robots - avoids making worth dependent on moral action | - colloquial - may activate only certain conceptions of AI (e.g., has a spirit, capable of advanced cognition) - may imply needing to have a soul or metaphysical presence | Merriam-Webster, 2021; Oxford Languages, 2021 |
4 | Beneficiary | derives well-being from resources | - clear connection to moral consideration - implies worthiness or social value - grants social status in human society | - limited usage in research - possible negative connotations (e.g., “welfare recipient” amongst humans) - possibly threatening to humans because of implied resource sharing | Shulman & Bostrom, 2021 |
5 | Device | “a thing made or adapted for a particular purpose, especially a piece of mechanical or electronic equipment” | - enables discussion of mechanical or electronic safe and accurate functioning - easy to bring examples to mind (e.g., “toaster,” “coffee maker,” “vacuum”) | - strong association with tool use (e.g., “consumer device,” “technical device,” “technological device,” “smart device”) - strong association with lack of agency | Oxford Languages, 2021 |
6 | Entity | “a thing with distinct and independent existence” | - commonly used to refer to robots, AIs, and nonhuman animals - synonymous with “being” and “living” - does not require biological life - does not require a soul or metaphysical presence | - could refer to an individual, a group of individuals, or a corporation - abstract and difficult to mentally picture - may prompt objectification - can imply alienness | Oxford Languages, 2021 |
7 | Life | “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death” | - enables attribution of qualities typically reserved for biological, material entities - compatible with the “think, sense, act” robotics paradigm | - definition based on qualities of biological entities - may activate only certain conceptions of AI (e.g., has a spirit, capable of advanced cognition, derived from biological processes) - implies death or a permanent end-state | Oxford Languages, 2021 |
8 | Machine | “an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task” | - intended to apply to non-biological, constructed entities - implies complex composition and integration of cooperative internal systems | - common association with instrumental tool use - not necessarily digital or electronic (e.g., a tractor) - dissociated with experiential and affective capacities - denies possibility for human-like internal states (e.g., mechanistic dehumanization, “automatons”) - common association with being rigid, cold, or inflexible | Oxford Languages, 2021 |
9 | Patient | an entity who is acted on or responds to an action | - common usage in moral philosophy and moral psychology - clear pairing with “agent” - implies need for moral consideration | - strong association with field of medicine - could imply weakness or need for treatment due to medical association - may be more commonly associated with humans than other entities | Floridi & Sanders, 2004 |
10 | Person (“legal person”) | - person: “a human being regarded as an individual” - legal person: “an individual, company, or other entity which has legal rights and is subject to obligations” | - grants human-like status - may encourage support for AI rights - could be easily applied in virtual or digital worlds - can be applied to distinguishing individuals | - philosophical arguments against the term applied to artificial entities (e.g., Bryson, 2010) - strong association with conceptions of what it means to be a biological, corporeal human - may interrupt advocacy for the legal personhood of nonhuman animals (e.g., Nonhuman Rights Project) | Oxford Languages, 2021 |
11 | Robot | “machines using a sense, think, act paradigm to gather data about the environment, process the data autonomously, and act upon the world” | - well-established and commonly used - incorporates perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral capacities - applicable in many contexts (e.g., social, industrial) - arguments exist for the consideration of robot rights and duties | - requires a material body - moral consideration discussed primarily in relation to some sub-types (e.g., “social robots”) - common association with instrumental uses (e.g., cleaning, factory production) - common association with being rigid, cold, or inflexible | Gunkel, 2018 |
12 | “Super” | - OL: “especially; particularly” - Bostrom: far better or more advanced than a human | - used in common parlance - can be easily understood as a noun or verb modifier | - different meanings depending on context - possibly threatening to human uniqueness - limited usage across disciplines - implies a linear and hierarchical progression of capacities rather than a possible equivalency of capacities | Bostrom, 1998; Oxford Languages, 2021 |
13 | System | “a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network” | - implies complex, dynamic, and integrated components that may promote moral consideration - does not require a material body - offers a holistic image of a complex entity | - dissociated with experiential and affective capacities - not typically associated with moral consideration - can indicate intraindividual components or multiple entities | Oxford Languages, 2021 |
14 | Target | “an area or object that is the focus of a process, inquiry, or activity” | - implies a recipient who could receive moral consideration - no valence | - nebulous applications and associations (e.g., the superstore, for an arrow, of social derision or lauding) - directionality may preclude conceptions of relationality | American Psychological Association, 2021 |
15 | Transformative | “causing a marked change in someone or something” | - sounds positive - implies a changing outlook or world that might enable moral consideration - implies advanced features that may enable moral consideration | - not typically associated with moral consideration - not typically associated with agentic, cognitive or experiential, affective capacities - may be more referential to an abstract system or state rather than an entity or individual - may be focused on effects on humans | Oxford Languages, 2021 |