Over the course of MATS 9.0 we formed some views about AI welfare research that we thought were worth writing up. This post is meant to spark discussion rather than to present definitive conclusions. Thanks to Patrick Butlin for useful comments on a previous draft, and for many conversations over the course of MATS which influenced our views. Thanks also to Caspar Kaiser for comments.

A prominent approach in AI welfare research is to start from a theory of moral patienthood, derive indicators from it, and attempt to apply it to AI systems to determine whether they satisfy the theory. We'll refer to this as the top-down theory-driven approach[1].

We think this approach faces two problems:

In practice, applying theories to AI systems requires making assumptions that are hard to justify, which limits the strength of conclusions.
More broadly, we think current theories will fail to generalise to AI systems. They are calibrated to humans, and as a result end up either over-inclusive (assigning moral patienthood to entities that should not be included), under-inclusive (failing to assign moral patienthood to entities that should be included), or indeterminate (failing to provide a clear verdict about the moral patienthood of [...]

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Outline:

(02:03) 1. Issues with the top-down theory-driven approach

(04:48) 1.1. Applying theories to AI systems requires making assumptions that often undermine welfare-relevant conclusions

(09:15) 1.2. Current theories of moral patienthood will not generalise to AI systems

(12:18) 2. AI welfare needs basic science

(13:56) 2.1. Philosophical probes

(16:25) 2.2. Integrating empirical findings into theories

(19:43) Conclusion

The original text contained 3 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:
July 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ht8uMbAByDCKWHa9H/ai-welfare-research-needs-basic-science

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

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Images from the article:

Diagram showing two-step process: theory to empirical verification for AI moral patienthood.

Diagram showing iterative cycle between theory and empirical research with four numbered steps.

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“AI welfare research needs basic science” by OscarGilg, Pierre Beckmann, Jake1638

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“AI welfare research needs basic science” by OscarGilg, Pierre Beckmann, Jake1638