List, Christian (2024) Can AI systems have free will? [Preprint]

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Abstract

While there has been much discussion of whether AI systems could function as moral agents or acquire sentience, there has been relatively little discussion of whether AI systems could have free will. In this article, I sketch a framework for thinking about this question. I argue that, to determine whether an AI system has free will, we should not look for some mysterious property, expect its underlying algorithms to be indeterministic, or ask whether the system is unpredictable. Rather, we should simply ask whether it is explanatorily indispensable to view the system as an intentional agent, with the capacity for choice between alternative possibilities and control over the resulting actions. If the answer is “yes”, then the system counts as having free will in a pragmatic and diagnostically useful sense.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID List, Christian
Keywords:	Free will; Artificial intelligence; Intentional stance; Choice-making agency
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Action Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence General Issues > Decision Theory General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism
Depositing User:	Christian List
Date Deposited:	05 Dec 2024 13:08
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2024 13:08
Item ID:	24353
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Action Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence > AI and Ethics Specific Sciences > Artificial Intelligence General Issues > Decision Theory General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism
Date:	5 December 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24353

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