The Moral Status of Artificial Intelligence from the Perspective of the Easy and Hard Problem of Consciousness
Journal of Philosophical Investigations November 30, 2025 Saeid Karimi, Morteza Tabatabaie
Philosophical discussions of consciousness often distinguish between phenomenal consciousness—the subjective, inner experience of sensations like pain or pleasure—and psychological or access consciousness, which involves cognitive capacities such as reasoning and behavior. This article argues that this distinction can guide ethical judgments about moral status. Beings with only access consciousness, such as some advanced artificial intelligences, might deserve functional autonomy but not the right to avoid suffering. In contrast, infants and animals, who possess phenomenal experience, deserve the right not to suffer even without higher cognition. The analysis suggests that determining whether artificial intelligence could have phenomenal consciousness carries significant philosophical and ethical implications.