A new arXiv preprint argues that while debates about machine moral agency and sentience are well established, the question of whether AI systems could possess free will has received little attention. The author outlines a conceptual framework for approaching that question and sketching how it might be evaluated.
A new arXiv paper addresses the individuation problem for large language models, asking which entities linked to these systems, if any, should be identified as minds. The authors tackle the question through mechanistic interpretability, drawing on recent empirical research on persona vectors.
A newly posted arXiv paper in cs.AI hypothesizes that the structure of phenomenal experience mirrors the first-order structure of physical interactions, mathematically captured by gradients or Jacobians. The authors develop this idea within an idealized world called Gradland, inhabited by neural networks. The work is a theoretical contribution to discussions of machine consciousness rather than an empirical study.
A new arXiv preprint introduces "warrant theory," a philosophical approach that examines when propositions can legitimately be inferred within logical analysis. The work reframes logic as a normative system that specifies the conditions under which inferences are justified, rather than purely formal rules. It is a conceptual contribution to the philosophy of logic rather than an applied AI system or model release.