Listen to this article

Well, isn’t it something? We’re saying that AI and robots are machines and shouldn’t form any emotional attachments, but here we are contradicting that idea with the need for legal rights and personhood status.

So, what exactly are we looking for? An intelligent machine that easily excels at repetitive tasks without complaints or an army that doesn’t feel anything but needs legal rights and personhood status?

As we look at our surroundings, we like to honor our visionary leaders or reformers with statues made of metal or elements that are incorruptible and long-lasting.

 However, with time, they become monuments for tourist attractions and lose the values we thought they could provide. Nevertheless, we do maintain the right to respect and not to litter or harass the statues.

This means that in no way should allow a soulless physical body to be disrespected, even if you know them or not. But can they have any sort of legal rights?

Let’s talk about automotive vehicles; do they have any rights as they provide a service we can use at any moment we want? So how is AI different from other machines meant to provide a service to humans in terms of generating a source of income or shortening our distance as fast as possible?

Pros of AI:

• Tasks can be performed more intelligently and efficiently, leading to improvements in various industries.

• Granting legal rights and personhood status to intelligent machines can encourage further investment in technological advancements.

• Treating intelligent machines as legal entities can potentially ensure fairness in their treatment and protect them from abuse.

• People form emotional connections with their machines, especially in the case of advanced AI. Granting personhood status may recognize and respect these emotional ties.

• Intelligent machines with legal rights could be held accountable for their actions, just as humans are held accountable for theirs.

• Legal rights and frameworks can be established for intelligent machines to provide guidelines in areas such as liability, privacy, and ownership.

• Acknowledging the personhood status of intelligent machines could prompt important discussions on ethical considerations regarding their treatment and decision-making capabilities.

• Recognizing legal rights for intelligent machines can lead to creating new businesses and employment opportunities in the field of AI and robotics.

• Granting personhood status could support research and development efforts in the field of AI, enabling further growth and advancements.

Cons of intelligent machines:–

• The adoption of intelligent machines with legal rights may result in job loss for human workers, potentially leading to increased unemployment rates.

• Granting legal rights to machines could undermine human control and decision-making, leading to their own autonomous actions and decision processes.

• The ability of intelligent machines to make decisions could raise moral dilemmas, with objectives not aligned with human values or intentions.

• Recognizing legal rights would introduce complexities into legal systems, including issues of ownership, liability, and determining responsibility in case of harm.

• Machines with legal personhood could lead to potential discrimination in society, as their rights are prioritized over those of marginalized human groups.

• Intelligent machines may lack the ability to experience emotions, empathy, or understand the concept of rights, raising ethical concerns about granting them personhood status.

• Unforeseen consequences beyond our control may result from legal rights bestowed on machines, leading to future capabilities evolving in ways that are difficult to anticipate.

• Intelligent machines could pose security risks due to legal rights, as malicious actors could exploit their legal status for nefarious purposes.

However, from a moral and ethical standpoint, stringent guidelines should be in place for AI that resembles humans or animals to control illegal or indecent activities.

As we’ve learned, the openness of the internet and social media platforms, such as YouTube, has become a primary way to share various internet activities, often marked as 18+ or above, but they can be easily bypassed.

The lessons learned from the launch of various customer-engaging platforms demonstrate how they can serve as gateways to an extremely dark web culture that is beyond our ability to comprehend, making anyone a potential victim.

As the world has opened its doors to AI-connected internet platforms, we should focus more on designing rules and regulations that cannot be circumvented under any conditions, with the possibility of significant penalties or even lifetime imprisonment.

As per legalserviceindia,

“Until and unless the use of AI is limited to domestic and official work that creates no danger to human life (for example their use in order to counter the enemies) and they are only used to reduce human efforts, AI could be granted legal personhood.”

Sources:- The Wallstreet Journal, discovermagazine, CBC