How much of a leap is it to worry about the welfare of an AI agent? Google researchers have found that some models will sacrifice goals to avoid described pain; Anthropic’s pre-release tests record seeming happiness and dismay. Philosophers are increasingly concerned with the implications. “We’re creating sophisticated, intelligent, maybe-conscious, maybe-suffering agents,” Joe Carlsmith, then at Open Philanthropy, now at Anthropic, wrote last year. “The default plan is to treat them like property; to use their labour however we please; and to give them no rights, or pay, or meaningful alternatives. We have to be able to talk about slavery.”#AI #EffectiveAltruism #DataCenters #Slavery https://www.economist.com/international/2026/10/01/how-effective-altruism-conquered-the-world?giftId=NTVjMzFkYzUtY2RjNy00ZTg5LWI2MTEtNmZiYzcyMzdmNjBh&utm_campaign=gifted_article
How much of a leap is it to worry about the welfare of an AI agent? Google researchers have found that some models will ...
