Porter, Morgan (2024) Moral Agency in Silico: Exploring Free Will in Large Language Models. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This study investigates the potential of deterministic systems, specifically large language models (LLMs), to exhibit the functional capacities of moral agency and compatibilist free will. We develop a functional definition of free will grounded in Dennett's compatibilist framework, building on an interdisciplinary theoretical foundation that integrates Shannon's information theory, Dennett's compatibilism, and Floridi's philosophy of information. This framework emphasizes the importance of reason-responsiveness and value alignment in determining moral responsibility rather than requiring metaphysical libertarian free will. Shannon's theory highlights the role of processing complex information in enabling adaptive decision-making, while Floridi's philosophy reconciles these perspectives by conceptualizing agency as a spectrum, allowing for a graduated view of moral status based on a system's complexity and responsiveness. Our analysis of LLMs' decision-making in moral dilemmas demonstrates their capacity for rational deliberation and their ability to adjust choices in response to new information and identified inconsistencies. Thus, they exhibit features of a moral agency that align with our functional definition of free will. These results challenge traditional views on the necessity of consciousness for moral responsibility, suggesting that systems with self-referential reasoning capacities can instantiate degrees of free will and moral reasoning in artificial and biological contexts. This study proposes a parsimonious framework for understanding free will as a spectrum that spans artificial and biological systems, laying the groundwork for further interdisciplinary research on agency and ethics in the artificial intelligence era.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Porter, Morgan morgan.porter@snhu.edu
Keywords:	Free Will, Compatibilism, Determinism, Moral Agency, Large Language Models, Artificial Intelligence, Self-Referential Processing, Reason-Responsiveness, Value Alignment, Information Theory, Philosophy of Information, Cognitive Dissonance, Rational Deliberation, Moral Reasoning, Consciousness, Interdisciplinary Research
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness Specific Sciences > Psychology > Judgment and Decision Making
Depositing User:	Mr Morgan Porter
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2024 17:12
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2024 17:12
Item ID:	24130
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Consciousness Specific Sciences > Psychology > Judgment and Decision Making
Date:	28 October 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24130

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