Difficult to Discern

The first proposal makes an important assumption, that some of the theoretic future artificial intelligences possess definable consciousness. Obviously, this means that the first and possibly most important step is to develop a comprehensive way of defining such consciousness. Schwitzgebel and Garza agree that “developing a good theory of consciousness is a moral imperative” (115), defining consciousness as “a genuine stream of subjective experience” (114). It is very difficult, however, to draw a line in the sand that adequately defines the parameters of such a definition. Santosuosso offers “Giulio Tononi's Integrated Information Theory (IIT) of consciousness” which claims that consciousness “varies in quantity and comes in many degrees” (216). While still not a solid line, IIT sets the ground work for developing the all-important criteria for determining when an entity might be defined as conscious. 

Once we have a comprehensive way of defining a sentient entity, we must be willing to extend basic rights to them. The UN Declaration of human rights states that “those characteristics of human beings which distinguish them from animals, [are] reason and conscience” (Santosuosso 214). It is significant to note that there is a different between “conscience” and “consciousness.” While the two words share marked similarity in spelling, a conscience is a moral center, but consciousness is an awareness or sentience. However possession of conscience implies consciousness, “whose meaning [Santosuosso] here assume[s] to be coincidental” (215). If we can empirically point to an AI and claim it can reason and has a conscience, and by extension consciousness, then there are some fairly widely accepted grounds for giving them more rights than animals. Furthermore, when considering what might possess rights “purely biological otherness is irrelevant unless some important psychological or social difference flows from it” (Schwitzgebel 107).

To protect the rights of such entities, a Universal Declaration of Consciousness should be developed, that would extend basic rights to all entities falling within a certain definable degree of consciousness. This would be similar to “the 1998 Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities,” which extends “rights to personal and physical integrity,” rights to “meaningful participation in public affairs,” “rights to a remedy,” rights to “quality of life and standard of living”, rights to “education, arts and culture”, the right to “equality”, and the “freedom of opinion, expression, assembly, association and religion” (322).