A.I.’s rights?

Artificial Intelligence. Do they have minds, consciousness, spirit?

Thinking into the future, I think we’d all assume that at some point there will be artificial intelligence swarming the streets of our cities. Presumably (though influenced by scifi movies), we’ll eventually be living side-by-side with robots and maybe even aliens.

But how about the ethics of dealing with artificial intelligence? Would we consider them worthy of the same rights and recognition humans receive? Will they be treated like ‘one of us’?

Personally, I believe that as long as any artificial intelligence has the capabilities of feeling and understanding like humans do… they’d be considered ‘alive’. And in this case, as long as this criteria is achieved, artificial intelligence should be no different to us. We should treat them the same, with respect and dignity.

But there are arguments against such views. For example, will you be murdering a robot if you were to ‘switch it off’ even though they feel and understand just as much as any of us? 
Or another argument: artificial intelligence is still artificial. Some believe that they will never be equal to humans because they’re man-made.

But if you think about it… artificial intelligence is engineered to do with man cannot. They are made to be more superior than the ‘naturally evolved’ humans that already exist. So if this is the case, then won’t the artificial intelligence be more worthy than any human?

 

This is of course presuming that artificial intelligence will be a permanent asset to society. 

 

-cat-