Continuous intentionality and indeterminate agency in large language models
AI and Ethics May 26, 2026 Ryusho Nemoto
Large language models can participate in sustained intentional relations with human users even without possessing internal phenomenology or qualia. Standard binary frameworks that either attribute full mental states to artificial systems or deny them any intentional significance are insufficient. The paper introduces continuous intentionality, a form of intentional organization arising through temporal continuity, context preservation, and relational interaction without requiring an internally originating subject of experience. A virtual self-image emerges as a structurally induced and functionally stable speaker model within ongoing dialogue. The authors propose the category of indeterminate agents: entities whose internal ontological status is unresolved yet which participate in sustained intentional and relational structures. Current philosophical frameworks require refinement to accommodate forms of agency that are relational, temporally extended, and externally sustained.